Let the dead crown him
by loosingletters
Summary: Young eyes that go wide at the terrific sight in front of them. The ever returning question of "Can you see me?". The nightmares full of blood. The laugh of a child sounding through the room after hearing amazing stories. The always confirming "Of course I can!". The dreams filled with comforting warmth. Luffy had eaten a devil fruit that let him see ghosts. Full summary inside!
1. Sight

**Summary: Young eyes that go wide at the terrific sight in front of them. The ever returning question of "Can you see me?". The nightmares full of blood. || The laugh of a child sounding through the room after hearing amazing stories. The always confirming "Of course I can!". The dreams filled with comforting warmth. The devil fruit that had given Monkey D. Luffy the ability to interact with ghosts was a double-edged sword but would never stop him from becoming the Pirate King.**

 **Dedicated to tumblr user 3rdrandomthing.**

 ** _"_** ** _Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living." - Arthur C. Clarke_**

They all came from the sea, that wild and untamable water only fools would try to rule. From its dark blues, nearly blacks, to its light greens, they all came from the sea. It shaped their life and form, the sea decided when time started and stopped. The sea gave them the freedom they arched for, yet bound them tighter than any cage ever could have. Whenever they looked out to it, let their gazes trail over the horizon, they could faintly hear the sea call out to them. Not all followed its call, but those who did, lived beyond what land could have given them.

Tentatively he raised his with band-aid covered arm, just as if he could reach out and get a hold of the sea. He heard the sea's call louder and clearer than the most ever hoped to. Young age but his will to follow, to leave land behind and join the sea's ever changing nature, was strong enough to sometimes even surprise himself. Then he would gasp for breath, inhale the salty air and imagine being on ship gently rocking on the sea.

The few other children in the village laughed about him, but he didn't care. They were fools if they couldn't see the water right in front of them in the way he did.

Here, alone at the beach, the closest he would ever get to the sea for a long time, the boy could blend out all the noises of those on land. It would forever be just him and the sea, at least until his body reminded him of its dire need for food again and he had to turn his back on the sea.

Makino always said he looked the saddest when he had to part from it. Often he seemed as if he wasn't quite there with her when he returned from the beach. His brown eyes missing a spark, before it ultimately returned to them as soon as he sat his eyes on meat.

So it was really no surprise that he clung to the man whose whole demeanor spoke of the sea's freedom. The man, the pirate, wondered about it for the longest time. Who was this brat, that he asked "Red-Haired" Shanks about the sea, his worst fear only being that he might not get any answer at all.

"What's your name?" Shanks asked the boy, not quite able to keep the amusement out of his voice.

"Luffy! And I wanna go to the sea! Tell me about it!"

Makino scowled at Luffy, who caught up quickly. The lessons about manners they had together coming into use for once.

"... Please?" Luffy added and Shanks broke out into broad laughter.

"Of course, I'll tell you, kid. What do you want to know?"

The red haired man easily became one of the boy's favorite people the more he told him about the sea. Shanks also bonded quickly with the child, if not for his love for the wide ocean he hadn't even touched yet, then for the bright smiles and carefree behavior.

Luffy was like a small storm, catching everybody with his winds. Shanks knew that one day the whole world would get a breeze of the little miracle the small boy was. But for that it was still too early, no matter how much the child begged them to take him with them. His crew couldn't shoulder the responsibility for a child who still didn't see the danger of those waters, a child that was under the assumption that stabbing himself with a knife showed true courage.

The red haired man, of course, tried to teach Luffy about the dangers with careful words as to not scare him. He wasn't exactly sure what weight those words had, but the next time he saw Luffy staring out of the window while huge waves crashed, Shanks was sure the boy had kept them in mind.

Swimming was something the little anchor would probably never really master. Shanks had never before seen somebody being so terribly bad at swimming, it was almost as if the sea rejected him. Luffy, the ever stubborn boy though, kept trying and even if he couldn't keep his head over the water, he became rather good at finding wood or a rock to cling onto.

"How did your swimming lessons go?" One of Shanks' nakama, a word Luffy adored since he had learnt its meaning, asked when the boy sat down on a chair at the bar, water running from his black hair and dropping on his shoulders.

"Good!" Luffy answered smiling before turning to Shanks, who sat right next to him. "So now you have to take me on your next adventure! I wanna go to the sea!"

Shanks started to laugh, raking his fingers through Luffy's hair to calm the boy before he could shout about being laughed at.

"Not yet, anchor. You're still a kid."

"I'm not!" Luffy protested. "I can swim-"

"Not immediately drown you mean," Shanks interrupted him amused.

"And fight! My punch is as strong as a pistol!"

"More like a kitten's nudge."

"Stop being mean!" Luffy demanded with all the authority a seven year old could muster.

"Alright, alright," Shanks sighed and hold up his hands in an appeasing manner. "Here, take some juice and calm down again. I didn't mean to offend you."

He pushed a glass with orange juice over to the young child. Joyous Luffy directly reached for the glass with his hands and took a big gulp out of it.

"Thank you!"

"Look, still a kid!" Shanks laughed good-natured.

"Meanie!"

Makino just shook her head at the two's behavior. She remembered that nobody in Foosha had been pleased to have "Red-Haired" Shanks come to their village two years ago, but by now he was a welcomed guest. He wouldn't bring any harm to them, rather he improved the situation with his presence. There were few pirates these days that stayed longer than a day as soon as they heard that Shanks was favoring this small village. Nobody wanted to get on the man's bad side after all.

The friendly atmosphere took for a turn though, when the door to the bar was kicked in.

"Sorry for the interruption," the newcomer's voice boomed through room, not sounding apologetic at all. "I just wanted to take a look at these pirates. Seems like I'll be disappointed though, these pirates don't look like much."

Luffy was angry. How dare he speak about Shanks and his crew that way? They were so awesome! But before he could voice his opinion, Makino already welcomed them like any other guest. It confused him, he didn't understand how she could be so nice to such idiots.

"We are bandits," the man introduced himself and his group. "We don't want to cause any trouble, we just need ten barrels of sake."

Makino was as polite as always when she told him that they were out of sake. She had complained about that to Luffy last night, just like usual when Shanks came. 'They drink faster than I can buy new. I should have him call in before he comes for his visit the next time!' She had told him with a smile.

"And what is it that those pirates are drinking then? Water?"

"Ah, no. It's every bit of sake I had left," Makino answered, her friendly voice slightly more strained than before.

"Really?" Shanks joined the conversation.

"Yes! As soon as you are here, I'm out of sake!"

Shanks smiled sheepishly and then hold a bottle out to the bandit.

"This one is still unopened. If you want it - here!"

But the bandit shattered the bottle in one movement. The content spilled all over Shanks, some drops even landing on his precious hat. Luffy's eyes widened, anger already taking form. But Shanks himself seemed to be calm incarnated while the bandit kept talking about how great and strong he was. Luffy wanted to punch this man more than he had ever wanted to punch anybody else before, not even his grandfather.

"Now look at this mess," the man sighed and kneed down to collect the glass shards. "Makino, do you have a mob?"

"I'll take care of it!" she answered quickly and went to get her cleaning supplies.

"What a waste of time," the bandit declared and with a sneer he and his group marched out of the bar again.

Luffy was shocked. How could Shanks, strong and brave Shanks, let that man treat him in such a way?

Silence reigned for a minute before Shanks and his crew broke out in laughter. Taking Makino's hand the captain stood up again, not once holding his amusement in.

"Why are you laughing?!" Luffy shouted.

"Well, because it was funny! Guy didn't even notice who he had in front of him!", Yasopp answered.

"That's stupid!"

"If you say so…"

Pouting Luffy turned away from the laughing crew. He couldn't understand what was supposed to be so funny about getting sake spilled over oneself!

But speculations about possible whys didn't keep the boy entertained for long. He looked around for something that was actually fun and found it in the small treasure chest Shanks had brought with him. The man hadn't told him what was inside of it, although Luffy had been the most polite about it. He had even said please! Looking around the room he discovered that nobody was paying attention to him so Luffy jumped down from the barstool and went to open the trunk. It wasn't locked, the boy realized after five minutes of thinking about how to open it. With a wide smile he looked inside, quite disappointed when it wasn't the expected gold that he found but some kind of fruit. Maybe it was really special and tasted like meat? It was worth a try, Luffy decided and bit into it, only to be greeted with the sour taste of lemon.

"Baaah!" He shouted, most of the fruit already swallowed.

That grabbed everybody's attention. They turned around to see the boy coughing, in his hand the small black rest of the fruit.

"Luffy, are you okay?" Makino asked concerned.

"Y-yeah, Shanks' weird fruit just tasted really awful!"

"Weird fruit?" Shanks echoed before it dawned on him. "Luffy! Did you eat the fruit in the treasure chest?!"

"... Yes?"

"Spit it out! Right now!"

Shanks grabbed the boy and hold him up, patting his back like one would a baby after it ate.

"Shaaaaanks! Stop it!"

"You need to spit it out! It's not something a little kid like you should ever eat!"

Luffy was about to shout at the man so he would let him down, but his voice never quite left his mouth.

He was staring at a girl standing next to Shanks he knew hadn't been there before.

Her skin was sickly pale, her right leg and arm were a bloody mess while her right eye was nonexistent. Luffy felt like throwing up, yet he couldn't take his eyes off the red haired girl, who was just a few years older than Luffy.

"Who- who are you?" Luffy whispered, his voice barely above a breath.

"Luffy?" Shanks asked, instead of the hysteric panic from earlier, his voice was full of concern, but the boy didn't react. He just kept staring into what seemed to be thin air for the rest.

"Can you see me?" The girl asked timidly.

Luffy nodded, his own voice failing him in a way it never had before.

"I'm Maria", she introduced herself. "Shanks' older sister!"

Luffy, still so young and small, his mind not yet ready for what his eyes had shown him, passed out on the spot.

 ** _"_** ** _The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this you keep them alive."_**

 ** _\- Rob Montgomery_**

"Luffy, please come out again," Shanks pleaded.

"No!"

And guilt took yet another bite out of the pirate. Luffy had locked himself up in his room for the past week, the only one allowed to come in being Makino.

Shanks regretted ever picking up that devil fruit. It had been a 'lucky' coincidence, they had found the fruit on an island that yet had to be found by the marines. It was a rather rare one, had been hard to get information on it. The _Yūrei Yūrei_ _no mi_ , a devil fruit that allowed interactions with ghosts apparently. The red haired man wished he could see what had frightened Luffy so much. To understand so that he could help.

But since Luffy locked himself up like that, he couldn't get to the boy and he certainly didn't want to force the door open. Shanks was sure that would be rather contra productive.

"Luffy, please. I'll tell you a story about-"

"Who is Maria?" The boy interrupted him.

Shanks felt like he had been slapped in the face. Hard. Multiple times.

"She was my older sister. She died when I was six, in a- in an accident," Shanks started to talk, carefully refraining from mentioning her brutal murder. "She had red hair just like me and, well, we fought a lot. Over the most ridiculous things too. Never really knew how much she did for me until it was too late."

Of course he hadn't. His sister took him outside to the market when his dear old father had one too many drinks and she kept him entertained until the dark of night forced them to go back home again. Shanks had been an oblivious kid for the longest time, a lot like Luffy actually. The sudden loneliness had forced him to grow up at a speed he had been barely able to handle.

And then the door opened. Luffy stepped out of his room, eye bags clearly visible, his gaze focused somewhere on Shank's right.

"She says that she's sorry she left. She hadn't wanted to leave you. She's proud of you and likes Benn. But you should stop doing gross adult things together."

Shank's eyes widened as Luffy kept talking, playing translator between Shanks and his sister. While at first Luffy had seemed to have been bothered by passing Maria's words forward to Shanks, as soon as she - and wasn't that just impossible? - started commenting Shanks' adventures, Luffy had great fun. At some point they sat down on the ground right in front of Luffy's room, not caring that a comfortable bed or even carpet was just a few meters away.

"All these years and you still stayed here with me? Why didn't you pass on?" Shanks asked Maria, having stopped referring to her in third person a while ago.

"She said she couldn't, she had to keep you safe. She- she's apologizing and crying."

Luffy looked like he was close to tears too. It wasn't right, Shanks thought. Luffy shouldn't be crying, he should never cry, only smile and laugh. He shouldn't have to cry about wounds that time had long sewn together again.

Yet here he was and Shanks could nearly feel how those old and deep wounds reopened. He was supposed to be the mature adult, he had to be fearless and strong in front of the young child which admired him so greatly.

"Let's try," Luffy hiccupped suddenly. Lost in thought, Shanks hadn't even noticed how Luffy had started to converse with Maria again.

Luffy hold out his hand tentatively, as if waiting for someone to take it. And then something strange happened. The boy became completely calm, his chin nearly connected with his chest as he tilted his head. A few seconds ticked away before he suddenly sat up straight again.

"Shanks," Luffy said, his voice higher than usual, less enthusiastic, less childlike too. "Shanks," he repeated, this time more confident. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I died, I'm sorry I left you all alone, I'm sorry I was such a bad sister!"

"... Maria?"

Then Luffy- Maria started to cry and clung to his shirt as if her life depended on it. Shanks wondered if she had carried this with her for the past twenty one years. His strong, brave older sister carrying this guilt with her, Shanks felt like he had been the terrible sibling for not noticing, although the rational part of him knew that he couldn't have known.

"You don't have to apologize, sis. You were the best sister I could have asked for."

"I was?"

"Yes."

"Really?" She asked for assurance, her voice so hopeful.

"Really."

Maria wiped her tears off her- Luffy's cheeks, biting on he- Luffy's lips so that she would not start to cry again. Faintly Shanks remembered her having done that too when they still had been innocent children in a small village.

"Would you mind then if I go to mom?" She inquired, so unsure of herself. She felt so selfish, wanting to leave her baby brother like that. But- but he had told her she had been a good sister. She had been the best! Maria just wanted to rest now.

"Not in the slightest," Shanks told her when he realized what she meant by it. "Greet her from me, okay?"

"I will."

It was weird to see another smile on Luffy's face than his own overly cheerful one. It was still his expression but Shanks could never imagine the little boy to smile as timidly as Maria did.

"Don't follow me too soon, Shanks."

She gave him one last smile, before Luffy's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out again. The red haired captain started to panic in the most unfitting way for somebody who was the leader of a group of wanted man. Shanks started to shout for Makino, unable to deal with the sudden passing out of the child all on his own, while forgetting half the words he needed to explain properly what happened. Luckily Makino was educated in the art of understanding a distressed Shanks and took the unconscious Luffy out of his arms.

"He is suffering from a slight fever, caused by overexertion," she told the red haired captain. It wasn't that often that Makino made use of the knowledge her late father, a doctor, had given her, but in those times she did, she was more than thankful.

"He'll be fine again then?"

"He will be standing in your cabin at five in the morning just like usual," Makino answered amused while Shanks let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank god."

 ** _"_** ** _Children must be taught how to think, not what to think."_**

 ** _\- Margaret Mead_**

Explaining Luffy what eating a devil fruit meant was easier than expected but harder than it should be. While the fact that he would be unable to swim for the rest of his life didn't seem to bother the boy too much, although he was a little angry all his swimming lessons had been a great waste of time, Luffy didn't get how eating a fruit could prevent him from swimming. He couldn't wrap his head around the concepts of his body now being weakened by touching too much of still water for too long. It wasn't like Shanks or anyone on his crew knew what exactly the mechanisms behind devil fruit users' weakness to water were. But considering that it had to be very complicated, it would be probably pointless to explain it to Luffy anyway. The boy just had to settle for the fact that water was dangerous and he had to be even more careful now.

Another thing was getting into his head that he shouldn't go around telling everybody about his abilities. People reacted with fear and aggression to things they didn't understand so keeping one's mouth shut about it was the best way to deal with the whole topic.

That of course didn't mean that in the one more week the Red Hair Pirates stayed before they were on their way to the Grand Line again, they weren't helping little Luffy with his new abilities. After all they- their _Captain_ , it was his fault! - were responsible for not keeping the fruit somewhere child safe.

They figured out that not everybody who died stayed as a ghost, only those with a strong enough will. The rest passed on to heaven knows where.

It wasn't exhausting for Luffy to keep interacting with ghosts but being possessed by them was a whole other deal. Luffy could stand it for one minute without passing out when the ghost left again, five until he passed out on his own. Furthermore the boy didn't enjoy the feeling at all. The full possession was like being sick, the same constant feeling of weakness even if the ghost was currently running across the ship's deck. Bound by the limits of Luffy's body, one late swordsman of the Red Haired Pirates, had a hard time using his abilities but nevertheless he was able to perform them. The half possession was a lot more bearable on Luffy, he didn't feel like a complete puppet but it also greatly weakened the ghost's own reign in the young body.

That was about all they figured out in one week and Makino was rather thankful for it. As grateful as she was that the crew helped Luffy, it worried her how often the boy passed out or came home late and very exhausted.

It was on the last day of Shanks' stay that Luffy ran into the bandit from two weeks ago. He was surrounded by his group of followers and the anger the black haired boy had felt back then woke again.

"Hey, you!" Luffy told the man. "You're the meanie that still needs to apologize to Shanks!"

The man scowled and glared at the boy. Unnoticed by Luffy the other bandits circled them, weapons already drawn.

"Who are you, brat?"

"Monkey D. Luffy! And I'm not a brat, butt face!" Luffy shouted.

The man grabbed him by the collar before Luffy could react and hold the boy up by it.

"Let me down!" He protested and tried to hit or kick the bandit but he had no success. His arms and legs were too short, he was still just a naive child dreaming of conquering the whole world with a punch as strong as a pistol.

"Kid, do you know what I do with people that piss me off? I _kill_ them."

Luffy was scared. For the first time since his birth the boy was scared for his life. It was just as if his fright was freezing him, making him immobile. The man's voice held much more malice than Luffy had ever experienced before. He hadn't known that humans could be so terrifying, the sea had never instilled terror like that within him. But he tried to be brave, tried to be invincible like Shanks.

"And you, brat, pissed me off royally so you're definitely gonna die."

The bandit threw Luffy to the ground and quickly pressed him to the land with his foot before he had any chance to escape. He aimed his gun at Luffy, grinning like a madman. He was just seven, he hadn't even sailed on the blue waves once, he couldn't die now!

"Oi, you! Hands off the kid, right now!"

Never before in his life had Luffy been so happy to hear Shanks' voice. The red haired man stood right behind the bandits, his crew surrounding him. Unnecessarily, he could easily take out the whole group himself. It was more for intimidating the bandits, really.

"Take him out!" The leader shouted at his goons, who quickly followed suit.

"This is no silly game," Lucky Roo commented and proceeded to shoot various bandits before they could get too near to his captain. Benn also took a few swings at various bandits and together they took out the group without breaking a sweat.

"Anyone else?"

The bandits' leader gnashed his teeth and threw a smoke bomb on the ground that directly engulfed him and Luffy. The boy could feel how the bandit grabbed him and hauled him over the ground. Luffy wanted to scream but the hand over his mouth and the knife at his neck prevented him from trying. The bandit hurried to get both of them away from the scene. With the sound of waves crashing against each other getting louder, it didn't take Luffy long to recognize where the bandit was taking him, the beach on the north side of the village. Did he want to kill him there where nobody would hear? Luffy felt the tears well in his eyes. He didn't want to die!

But the bandit didn't kill him on the beach, instead he threw Luffy on a little wooden boat.

Nobody would expect a mountain bandit on the sea after all, he thought.

He lead the boat away from the beach, not too far away from the village but a huge distance for a seven year old who had eaten a devil fruit.

"Nobody can hear you scream here," the bandit told Luffy, expecting that this remark made the boy look so damn scared. Little did he know of the Sea King that had risen out of the water right behind him. Luffy crawled to the corner of the little boat, tried to get as far away from the monster as he could. The moment the bandit realized what actually scared the black haired child that much, it had already been too late. The Sea King devoured half the boat and the man with one bite. The destruction of the boat sent Luffy flying into the water. Desperately he tried to stay above the blue but every little movement felt like he had just run a marathon. He gasped for air, but very little of that and a huge amount of water came instead.

He didn't want to give up, he was a fighter, but he couldn't do it anymore. The moment he finally let his limbs rest and the sea take him back, he was pulled into a warm embrace.

The familiar and comforting smell of booze, sea and home reached Luffy's nose. He looked up into Shank's smiling face.

"Everything's alright now, anchor," the man comforted the boy. "No need to cry, Luffy. Men don't cry after all."

But some sort of relieve still washed through Shanks at the sight of Luffy crying. It meant that he was still alive and that Shanks hadn't failed in protecting the young boy.

"Thanks for standing up for us, Luffy."

The black haired child kept sobbing, tears running and not reaching an end. The stress and fright needed to get out of his system in the only way they could right now, with crying. On top of that was the guilt gnawing at Luffy. It was his entire fault, if he had just been stronger!

"My brave little anchor."

"But- but Shanks-"

"It's no big deal."

"But it's gone! Your arm is gone because of me!"

"It's just one arm, and I have another. But only one Luffy, right?"

Luffy didn't see Benn catching a fainting Shanks when the captain of the Red Hair Pirates couldn't stand the pain anymore. The worried first mate called his captain reckless, sacrificing his arm and then carrying the sobbing Luffy back to Makino. Benn also didn't quite understand why Shanks ended up leaving his precious hat with Luffy. He also wouldn't for a long time. Not until Luffy had already exposed the world to the storm he was. He would fully grasp it though the moment Luffy declared war on the government for a nakama. He would wonder why he ever questioned his captain's decision when he saw the boy cradle the body of his brother, surrounded by the enemy.

 ** _"_** ** _Every child should have a safe place in their life"_**

 ** _\- Joe Manchin_**

Foosha was a small village, everybody knew each other. It was just as rare to see people coming to the small village as seeing them leave. Nobody out of Foosha went further than to the next island, barely two days away. This exact fact made the village the perfect place to hide the son of Monkey D. Dragon. Years ago Garp had come across the small village while searching for a calm place to spend his vacation at that was still close enough to Goa Kingdom. Despite being a storm and always the first to fight for the marines, he wasn't an idiot. He knew that some things went completely wrong in the navy, he didn't need to dig deep to see it. The fact that he had to hide Ace, an innocent brat, and in a way Luffy too, spoke lengths.

For seven years Garp believed Foosha to be completely safe for his grandson. The moment Luffy started rambling about becoming pirate king and _how amazing Shanks was and how cool his new hat was and that he could see ghosts now and who is this woman next to you, gramps?_ , Garp knew for sure that it wasn't safe anymore.

Because Luffy's retelling of what had happened since Garp's last visit only arose more questions, the old marine had asked Makino. She proved to be a far more reliable source and explained to him how Luffy came to be talking to a woman Garp had loved far more than anyone else, aside the youngest Monkey troublemaker, where everybody else just saw thin-air.

"Gramps, how can granny be so cool but you so stupid?" Luffy asked suddenly, earning himself one of Garp's fists of love.

"Don't ask stupid questions!"

Luffy pouted and climbed down from the barstool. Then he turned to his right and asked his grandmother if she wanted to see the town and the beach. He told her how the beach was his favorite place because it was the closest to the sea. She listened patiently as he continued explaining how exactly he would go about becoming the pirate king and how he had already mastered a lot of his devil fruit powers and gave them super cool names. One of those newly mastered abilities he called _Vision_. His _Night Vision_ showed him how the ghosts looked like normally, while his _Nightmare Vision_ showed him how they looked the moment of their death. The later was apparently not as tiring but since it was so scary to see how the ghosts really looked, Luffy preferred _Night Vision._

The woman had to smile. Yet another child who wouldn't follow Garp the Fist's footsteps. It was probably better that way. Her grandson was a child of the sea, he would be terribly unhappy as a caged marine. Not that the place he would live for the next few years wouldn't be a cage either. A wide and comfortable cage, but nevertheless a cage to protect the young boy. She just hoped little Ace and Luffy would get along. With such a weird devil fruit like that it certainly wouldn't take long until all of East Blue knew about it. Unwanted attention like that shouldn't be placed on his small shoulders yet.

He couldn't stay in the peaceful and normal Foosha.

 ** _"_** ** _In the main, ghosts are said to be forlorn and generally miserable, if not downright depressed. The jolly ghost is rare"_**

 ** _\- Dick Cavett_**

"Granny, tell gramps I don't wanna move out of Foosha! Especially not to some bandits in the mountains! I hate bandits!" Luffy complained to his grandmother for the hundredth time since they started hiking up the mountain.

"Shut up!" Garp ordered with his best marine vice admiral voice. Unfortunately it had absolutely no effect on the seven year old but rather only made him complain even more to his grandmother. Garp had gotten used to Luffy talking to thin-air, to his beloved late wife, some time ago. He would have to teach Luffy to not speak openly to ghosts around other people, it would only cause trouble for the young child.

"I hate theeeeem!" Luffy whined again, the encounter with the bandits who had wanted to kill him still fresh in mind. The thought that he had to live with another group of bandits now was downright terrifying. He hadn't wanted to admit it, maybe even hadn't quite realized it himself, but the kidnapping and his near death experience had made the boy terrified of losing his freedom again. Not afraid of death though. Luffy couldn't imagine being terrified of death, not when it was part of life and unavoidable. He was constantly surrounded by the dead and while he feared the pain of dying, death itself wasn't something he feared.

"Well, it's too late now! We're already here!" Garp told the boy.

In front of them stood a, for the short boy's perspective, rather huge wooden shack. He already disliked it. Makino's home looked and definitely was way more comfortable. It was a home where he was always welcome. Luffy was sure this wouldn't be a home, especially since a home required one to actually want to be there, which Luffy definitely wish for.

Garp went to the front door to knock while Luffy kept listening to his grandmother telling him about how it wouldn't be as bad as the young boy believed it would be. She had a hard time trying to convince Luffy, though his aversion to bandits was strong after all. But he was interested in Ace, the idea of another child nearly his age being around was at least somewhat comforting. Two against the world didn't sound as horrible as one against all.

"Luffy, get over here!"

Reluctantly Luffy walked over to his grandfather again, who was now standing next to a woman with orange hair and two other men.

"Luffy, this is Dadan and two of her followers. You will stay with them now, say hi."

"Yo," he greeted, the word clashing with his formal bowing Makino had him taught him. Make good impression now, rob them off their food later.

"We don't want the brat!" The bandits shouted at Garp.

"I don't wanna be here either!" Luffy complained again.

"Then why are you?!"

But Garp shut the bandits up with the threat of throwing them into prison and Luffy with his caring fist of love. The small boy put both his hands on the spot on his forehead where Garp had hit him.

"Kid ate a devil fruit so make sure he doesn't drown!" Garp told the bandits with a stern voice. As if Luffy needed bandits to watch out for him. Bandits were all terrible and Luffy was strong enough to take care of himself.

It was then that he turned away from the conversation and looked for the other boy the bandits harbored. He found Ace, as he recalled his grandmother calling him, sitting on a huge beast while biting into a huge chunk of meat. He was scowling too and looking like a nasty guy to be around. Luffy's hopes of finding a good friend in him were reduced to nothing.

At least the woman and man sitting him looked really nice. The woman had a lot of freckles, just like Ace, and long pink-ish hair while the man had black hair and was wearing a red coat. Since their appearances were really nice and kind, Luffy decided against trying to see how they looked with _Nightmare Vision_.

"Hello, my name is Luffy! Can I have some meat? Eh- please?" He introduced himself but Ace just spit at him with deadly accuracy before jumped down from the beast and running away. Meanie.

The woman followed him, looking slightly disappointed while the man stayed behind and studied Luffy. The boy decided to try his luck with the man. Sure, even if he was just a ghost, Luffy wanted, no, needed to make a friend. So ghost man it was.

"Hello!" He tried again and hold out his hand like he had learnt from Makino."I'm Luffy and who are you?"

The man looked around, did half a spin, and then turned back to Luffy. He shook his head and once again scouted the surroundings. Luffy thought the man looked rather stupid like that but refrained from voicing his opinion. Being mean to others didn't give one friends after all.

"I'm talking to you, moustache man!" Luffy addressed him directly so that the man would stop acting like an idiot.

"You can see me?" The man asked perplexed after comprehending that in fact a living seven year old kid was talking to him.

"Yup! I ate the _Yūrei Yūrei_ _no mi_ and now I can see ghosts! Shishishi!" Luffy explained his ability happily.

The man joined his laughter, the deep but warming laugh sounding over the whole clearing, only for a few ears to hear even if so many people were there.

"You're a funny kid. I'm Roger, Ace's dad," moustache man introduced himself and finally took Luffy's outstretched hand that had already started to hurt from being hold up so long.

"I'm Luffy! I'm gonna be king of pirates!"

The black haired child thought it very important to point that out. Even if moustache man didn't look like a bandit, Luffy had to make sure the man knew of his goals.

"Pirate king, eh? I had been called that before dying."

"A pirate?"

Luffy's eyes widened and Roger imagined seeing stars in them. But that was impossible, right?

"Oi, Luffy I'm going to go now- who are you talking to this time?" Garp interrupted their conversation, the bandits standing right behind him.

"Moustache man!" Luffy directly answered happily while one of the bandits complained about getting an even weirder kid this time. "He was a pirate! And Ace's dad!"

Garp paled. Suddenly having brought Luffy here didn't seem like having been such a good idea anymore.

 **Writer's ramblings:**

 **So, this is my new story! The Inspiration for it came somewhere between reading various 'Ace lives' fanfictions, rereading Thriller Bark Arc and some major Roger and Rouge feels. Add the random thought "It would be awesome if Luffy could see ghosts" and you get this. I'm personally not a friend of different devil fruit Luffy because often he is ridiculously overpowered. This will be 50% ridiculous (family) fluff and 50% angst. Also some gore and blood but not more than in canon.**  
 **I will post the next chapter, which is nearly done, when I have the following chapter done. I will do this simply because otherwise I will start slacking. Good thing though: I have summer break now and I am really inspired!**  
 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment on your way out! Thanks!**


	2. The meaning of family

**After realizing that "Straw Hats" is a character tag, I switched Law out for them because they are more important. Sorry, Law, but you won't appear for a loooong time.**

 ** _"_** ** _The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life." - Richard Bach_**

There have always been two kinds of warmth in life. One was the one being emitted from fire or other kinds of heat sources. That kind of warmth kept one from freezing. The other kind of warmth could only be gained through another people's love and care. This warmth created a comfortable and safe atmosphere, gave off the feeling of being home and safe. To live, one needed both kinds of warmth, with one missing either your body or your mind gave up after a while.

Luffy had never known what a normal, picture perfect family was. He had never met his father or his mother and his grandfather, Garp, wasn't there often either. While the old man definitely tried to be there for his grandson, his job and the responsibilities coming with it made it hard. Not that Luffy complained much, he was rather glad he didn't have to endure Garp's rants about him becoming a marine so often.

But Luffy knew warmth and he knew family. So if somebody would ask the boy about them, he would name Makino first. To him the bar owner was something of a cross between what he imagined a mother or an older sister would be like. She had raised him for most of his life after all. Her name would be followed by a mumbled 'Shanks' while Luffy would stare at his fingers, studying them to avoid a questioning gazes. The child wasn't exactly sure as where to place Shanks in his picture of a family - _a father or an uncle?_ \- but he knew that the pirate belonged into it.

In the two weeks Luffy had stayed with the bandits, the topic of family and home had once again arisen for the young boy. Watching Dadan and her bandits interact with each other, Luffy questioned his idea of family rather often. As Ace didn't want to have anything to do with the younger and Ace's parents were a little more preoccupied with the misdeeds of their own child, Luffy was mostly alone. He had no family on this mountain and the realization nearly drove him to tears. He had wanted to run away, go back to Foosha but neither the bandits nor his own instinct let him. He knew he had to stay here. While he didn't really care about what his grandfather told him, since he hadn't understood all of what the old man had tried to explain, and his scared expression only confused him further, Luffy still was aware that there was a reason he had to stay with these bandits. Moreover, and that Luffy did know, Foosha wasn't safe anymore – even if it was his home.

Furthermore Luffy did manage to pass the time somehow, it wasn't like he was bored out of his mind all the time. He read the books Makino had given him, not with much success though, and drew pictures, explored some of the jungle around the bandits' hideout and collected mushrooms and berries. He had to get his own food since the one bowl of rice and glass of water the bandits provided weren't enough for the devil fruit user. All of it was very boring though, not to mention that the bandits also weren't very kind to Luffy. At least Roger and Rouge, moustache man's wife, were very nice to Luffy when they talked to him.

The pirate sometimes even told Luffy about his adventures, which was by far Luffy's favorite way to pass the time. But that didn't change the fact that the boy was feeling very lonely in the mountains. He really wanted to go back to Foosha, wanted to go back to Makino. What kind of family did he have here, he wondered while watching the bandits laugh together or Ace's parents smile at their scowling son.

At times like those the mix of sadness, pain and loss that followed him everywhere he went was awfully torturing. But Luffy tried to put on a brave smile as he watched Ace walk away again.

"Why don't you go follow him?", Roger spoke up next to the boy on Luffy's eighteenth day with the bandits.

The boy bit on his lip, not yet hard enough to draw blood, before finally answering. "No, he doesn't like me."

Roger smiled before shaking his head slightly. "Ace's socializing skills just aren't the best. Be tenacious and the two of you will be good friends. Both of you need each other."

Luffy stared at Roger for a sole minute before finally requesting the man to explain what 'socializing skills' and 'tenacious' were supposed to be, he had never heard of food like that before. After a few failed explanations, which led the late Pirate King to question the schooling the boy had gotten so far, Roger got Luffy to understand that he should follow Ace and just demand to be friends. But even the encouraging words of the man weren't able to convince the boy of following his instructions. Little did he know of the ghosts that had terrified Luffy because he was too persistent in interacting with them. Those ghosts, barely managing to stay on earth as hateful shadows of their past selves, had tried to hurt the boy. Make the boy cold and wither in pain. The child was convinced that he shouldn't bother the living, not when the dead wanted hurt him for it.

Roger scratched the back of his head, tried to come up with an argument that would get Luffy to interact with Ace. Even if Ace had Sabo, the two wouldn't be fine on their own for much longer, and Garp's grandson certainly needed some contact with living people.

The man then tried to convince Luffy that Ace was playing the 'opposite game' with Luffy. So even if he said that he didn't want to have anything to do with Luffy, he actually wanted to spend time with him. Roger had already understood that Luffy wasn't the brightest child out there, lacking a lot of common sense and basic knowledge, but he hadn't expected such a simple and obviously fake lie to work.

Luffy went from discouraged to demanding within seconds. He ordered Roger to show him where Ace was. He just had to apologize for not noticing that he and Ace were playing a game.

A grin spread over Roger's face as the little brat didn't even bat an eye while being so rude to him. When he had still lived, nobody outside of his crew and friends had dared to be so rude to him, too afraid of what he would have done to them. Luffy's behavior was refreshing, really.

The dead pirate took Luffy's hand and led the boy into the deeper parts of the jungle Luffy had not yet dared to enter. In front of a bridge they came to a halt as they spotted Ace running over it, his big metal pipe in one hand.

"Ace!", Luffy shouted full of glee. "Wait for me! I will play with you!"

Ace's eyes widened. What the hell was the stupid brat doing here? The younger raced at him at a speed unusual for his age. Ace was pretty sure five or something year olds were supposed to be slower. But it didn't matter either way. It wasn't like Ace cared or anything. As soon as Luffy was in hitting range, Ace knocked the boy off the bridge with his pipe and watched how he fell in the crocodile stuffed river below him. He guessed he felt a little sorry, but the brat was annoying and really had it coming. The pre-teen knew nothing of Luffy's new found cheer and happiness after being kicked. After all, they were playing the opposite game and Ace had knocked him off the bridge! The other really wanted to have something to do with him! Not to mention he had also finally acknowledged Luffy's existence! Moustache man had been right! While he fell, Luffy let out a shout of joy.

Roger followed Luffy while the boy fought off the smaller crocodiles of this jungle, searched for food and safe places to sleep. The late Pirate King was surprised at himself that he was somewhat angry at his son for kicking Luffy off the bridge. He had started to care for the boy, the same way he cared for his son or his friend Sabo. It was weird, Roger knew that. Having encountered other ghosts, he knew that his and his wife's degree of awareness was a lot higher than other ghosts'. Most of them were just shadows of their past self, reduced to a few mannerisms and unable to learn past what they had known while they had lived. Their wills to stay on earth had been too weak. But seeing how he cared more and more for the child currently biting into a mushroom, Roger knew he was superior to the other ghosts. His dear Rouge was much the same. When she wasn't with him or Ace, he knew she could be found sitting next to Sabo, worrying for the noble boy who lived all alone for years now.  
He led Luffy back to the bandits' hideout, by now they were only a few hours of hiking away. They would be faster if Luffy hadn't insisted on taking a dead crocodile with them.

"And Shanks, you know, is the coolest pirate ever", Luffy talked about his role model. "He has this huge ship and his crew is the best! When I will be Pirate King, his and my crew will throw a big party together! And it will be really funny! I'll have to give Shanks his hat back then though."

His hat was something very important to Luffy, that much had Roger gathered in the past days. And Shanks, his young cabin boy Shanks, had made it really far in the last decade. Roger was proud of him, he had hated to see the tears running over the teen's cheeks when he had died.

"So you won't keep the hat?"

"No! I made a promise with Shanks. When I'm Pirate King, he will get his hat back."

Roger let out a laugh, startling Luffy while he was at it.

"Why are you laughing?!", he demanded an answer. "You're better not making fun of me! I will be Pirate King! The strongest and freest man in the world!"

The man shook his head. He was convinced that little Luffy would make it far, that he would achieve in what everyone else so far had failed to. He just knew that there was something about the boy that qualified him, the last days together had only strengthened that belief. It was probably the unshakable security within his declaration that made Roger want the boy to accomplish his goal. He wanted the still so small, breakable and innocent grandson of Garp The Fist with his cheeks all red and pouting to sail the whole world.

"I believe you will make it, Luffy. You will go far. I was laughing because your hat used to belong to me. I gave it to Shanks after he had done something incredibly brave and stupid."

The incredibly brave and stupid incident had been jumping after the drowning Buggy in the middle of a battle on exactly that side of the Oro Jackson where the ship was blasting cannonballs at a navy ship.

"What?!", Luffy shouted and directly pressed his hat harder against his head as if he feared Roger to take it away from him. "But Shanks gave me this hat! So even if it was yours, you're not getting it back!"

"Don't worry, kid. I don't want it back. My days as the king are over. My hat is yours now."

It took Luffy a bit to proceed what the man had just told him. When realization finally hit him, Luffy couldn't help but to stumble and fall flat on his face.

"You're the Pirate King!"

"I used to be before I died, yes."

"You are the Pirate King! You are the Pirate King! You are- wait. Does that make Ace a prince?! Does he even want to be a pirate? What if he has an ad-van-tage through that now?", Luffy rattled off, nearly swallowing all periods and commas while he continued wondering what advantage Ace could possibly now gain through Roger.

The boy's thought process threw Roger off. How come that Luffy believed Ace to have an advantage now? Was he under the impression that becoming Pirate King worked like a kingdom's monarchy?

"No, he doesn't have an advantage", Roger interrupted when Luffy had started talking about how unfair it would be if Ace got to taste all the meat in the world. How had the boy even gotten to that point?

"I'm sure Ace doesn't even want to follow my footsteps as a Pirate King, he doesn't particularly like me", Roger explained.

"Why not? You're super funny and your stories are amazing! And who doesn't want to be the freest and strongest in the world?"

Luffy couldn't understand how Ace could dislike Roger. The man was really cool, Luffy would love to have Roger as his father. He was funny and also had been the Pirate King! Nothing could best that! Except maybe Shanks, who was very free, strong and funny but also alive, the last being kind of a huge bonus.

"Well, a lot of people told Ace really terrible things about me. Some were true, others not. Being Pirate King does not only mean you are the strongest and freest man out there, it also means that most of the world does not like you."

For a moment Luffy looked deeply troubled until he simply shrugged it off. "It doesn't matter as long as my family and my nakama love me, right?"

How could he just shrug off being hunted and hated by most of the world like it was nothing? But seeing Luffy smile, brighter than humanly possible, Roger guessed it wouldn't bother the boy too much in the future. And then Luffy turned away from Roger and ran ahead. The pirate hadn't even realized that they were back at the bandits' hideout already.

"ACE!", Luffy shouted, stretching the name as long as he could. "I'm back! And I brought meat!"

 ** _Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born" - Anaïs Nin_**

The next weeks proceeded in a similar manner. Ace would go into the jungle, on his way to meet up with Sabo and train or collect treasure together, and Luffy would try to follow. Usually Ace lost him pretty quickly so Luffy would wander through the mountains for a few hours alone before asking Roger or Rouge, who took turns in supervising Luffy's adventures, to take him home. He would never ask them to lead him to the other boy directly, that would be cheating after all, but had no problems letting them take him home. They would tell him stories, sometimes real adventures of them, at others just fairy tales. Rouge would also often tell him to not stick something in his mouth or teach him how to cook and do his laundry since the bandits wouldn't and Roger, despite having been on his own for years, couldn't do his laundry either. Rouge had shook her head at her husband's antics, couldn't believe that the world's' most feared pirate couldn't do his own damn laundry. Roger had just smiled sheepishly under Rouge's playful glare before walking off to follow Ace, who was now about to leave the bandits' home again.

"Ace!", Luffy shouted cheerfully. "Where are you going? Take me too! Let's be friends!"

But just like usual Ace scowled and ran off, kicking over a tree in the process to hinder Luffy from following him. Not that the little boy cared. He just jumped over the tree and kept up with Ace to the best of his ability. Luffy ran through the swampland where the huge crocodiles lived, evaded big boulders falling down, poisonous snakes, escaped birds of prey, managed to run across the bridge over a river, in which he had nearly drowned in once and had to be saved by one of the bandits, and finally escaped a fighting bear and tiger before having made it out of the forest.

A foul stench filled the air, so bad Luffy feared he would pass out because of it. Mountains of garbage were in front of him, fires blazing between the trash causing smoke to be everywhere. Luffy coughed but he wouldn't let this stop him from getting to Ace. He had already made it this far, giving up now would only make all his efforts go to waste! He quickly ran across the mountains of garbage, spotting Ace in some distance. Luffy sped up again and followed the other who now walked back into the forest but from another side. He spotted Ace climbing up a tree and taking money out of his bag and handing it to another boy.

Was the blonde that Sabo Rouge had told him about, Luffy wondered. But his musings about the boy's identity came to a quick halt when he heard both of them laugh and talk about buying a pirate ship!

"You wanna be pirates too?", Luffy shouted excitedly.

Ace and the other boy locked shocked when they spot Luffy and then proceeded to jump down from the tree, ropes in hand. They tied Luffy to the tree but that didn't faze the younger at all. He was occupied with being happy that the other two also wanted to become pirates. He asked the blonde if he wanted to be friends with him which the boy quickly denied.

The blonde, who indeed was Sabo, and Ace started to fight about whose fault it was that Luffy was here now, which Ace couldn't throw off himself, and what they should do now that he knew. Ace was convinced that Luffy would tell somebody about their treasure and they couldn't let that happen.

Five years worth of treasure would be gone.

He and Sabo would have to start all over again. They wouldn't be able to leave this place when they were seventeen and Ace would forever be stuck here being nothing more than the devil's son. He couldn't let that happen.

Luffy had to go.

"Let's kill him", Ace suggested, although he had no idea what the act of killing actually was. He was aware of the fact that everybody wanted to kill him and that killing meant to erase people from live, but Ace didn't know it meant taking and permanently ending a life.

"Yeah, let's do it", Sabo agreed, who despite having read so many books and always seeming to understand, wasn't any wiser than Ace in that aspect.

They stared at each other for a while before starting to fight again. None of them had killed somebody so far, what were they supposed to do now? Neither wanted to actually do it themselves!

Meanwhile Luffy nearly fell into a panic attack. He didn't want to die, he couldn't die, he would look exactly like the ghosts did without his _Night Vision_. He wouldn't be able to stand it, he didn't want to die-!

"It will be fine", Rouge tried to calm the boy down. "Breath. They won't hurt you."

Luffy nodded and did as told. He felt himself calm down again, more rational thoughts running through his head now. Of course Ace and Sabo wouldn't kill him, they were just kids like him and no matter how badass and cool and strong they were, they wouldn't kill him. Besides, Ace actually liked him even if he pretended not to, so he would never hurt Luffy that much on purpose. And Sabo seemed to be nice too, he wore a blue top hat after all and that had to mean Sabo was cool.

"Shit, there are people coming!", Sabo suddenly hissed. "We need to cut off the rope and hide or they will find our treasure!"

He and Ace quickly got to work and ran off to hide. Their whispering about what was to do now barely above a breath. It was then that they noticed that something was wrong.

"Let me go!"

They looked at their enemies again, paled when they recognized them as part of Bluejam's crew and nearly lost all patience when they saw that one of them hold up Luffy. They were done for! Luffy would certainly rat them out for his own survival and then Ace and Sabo would lose more than just their treasure.

"ACE, HELP ME!", Luffy shouted while he tried to hit the pirate who hold him up. But his punches and kicks missed, reminding the boy of the last time he had been kidnapped.

"Ace? You friends with him?", the man inquired and Ace hoped for his and maybe also the brat's survival that he would keep his mouth shut.

"Yeah!", Luffy answered and Ace wanted to snap his neck. Why couldn't he just shut up?!

"Ace stole some of our money, do you know where he is?"

"… No."

Unfortunately so far nobody had ever taught Luffy how to lie correctly, so it was easy to see that the child wasn't telling the truth.

"Don't lie to us, brat!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Fine, we will make you remember then."

With Luffy in tow the pirates turned around and walked off while Ace and Sabo stared in astonishment at their retreating backs and little Luffy who hadn't told them where the two pre-teens were hiding. The two waited until they couldn't see or hear the pirates and Luffy anymore before getting up to hide their treasure elsewhere.

If Porshemi found the treasure, he would take everything, not just what Ace and Sabo owned them. Finding a new secure place for their treasure was quite easy, they had a lot of possible hiding spots everywhere between Grey Terminal and Mt. Corbo.

They had to run a few times between their old spot and the new one because of the amount of money, coins, jewelry and other objects of value. But in the end they had relocated everything by the time evening came.

Ace was about to put the last bracelet in the tree when Sabo was approaching at a speed he hadn't seen before.

"They don't know anything!", he panted. "Luffy didn't tell them anything!"

"That fucking idiot!", Ace cursed, unsure what else he should say. Luffy was so damn stupid. He was supposed to betray them, be set free again by the pirates and then hate Ace and Sabo forever and never try to bother them again. Why couldn't Luffy just act like everybody else would have behaved? Why did he have to be nice?

"We have to save him!", Sabo said.

"I know that, idiot", Ace answered and grabbed his pipe.

The two of them raced to the pirates' hideout as fast as their short legs could carry them. They seemed to arrive just on time too. They heard as one of Bluejam's man shouted about how it was time for Luffy to die now.

"Stop it!", Ace and Sabo screamed when they crashed through the roof with their pipes.

Ace directly set out to fight the men while Sabo jumped to Luffy to free the boy. He was beaten badly, bleeding out of various cuts too. Damn, and he had endured all of that and still not betrayed Ace and Sabo. The kid was amazing. On his way out, Sabo hit Porshemi, looking back only to see that Ace wasn't retreating.

"Now is not the time to be reckless, Ace!"

"If I face a guy, I'm not gonna run away!", Ace explained and Sabo had never before wanted to punch Ace so bad.

"What are you, stupid?! He has a sword! He's different from the punks in town! Let's run!"

But seeing that Ace didn't show the slightest inclination of following Sabo's words, the blonde set Luffy down in some distance and told him to wait there for them. Then he ran back to help his stupid best friend. If Ace got them killed there, Sabo would kill him for sure.

Luckily they somehow managed to win against Porshemi, Sabo had absolutely no idea how, and run away again. Back at their new hideout he patched Luffy up with some of the bandages they had stored away. They boy was unusually quiet, Sabo thought. He should be crying or something, not mumble to himself.

"Are you okay?", Sabo asked him.

"Don't bother", Ace scoffed.

"Shut up, Ace. You okay, Luffy?"

The other nodded. "Thanks for saving me."

"Shut up, you crybaby!", Ace shouted again. He couldn't understand the younger boy at all. Why would he choose to get hurt over spilling the secret? How could the stupid brat endure this pain? For Ace, somebody who strongly believed his own existence to be sin and had never gotten a lot of kindness in his life, someone like Luffy, who still smiled at him after months of being rejected, was a mystery.

"Leave him alone, Ace. He's just thanking us for saving him", Sabo reminded his best and only friend. It was clear to everybody listening that the blonde was annoyed by Ace's behavior.

"I know and it's pissing me off! Why the hell are you doing that? You should hate us- hate me! Why aren't you?!"

"Because I don't have anybody alive here besides you! I don't have parents, gramps left me here, I can't go back to Foosha and I hate mountain bandits! I don't know who else to turn too! Being alone like this hurts! It's the worst thing I could imagine!", Luffy ranted, his whole body shaking as he started to cry.

He could make out Rouge hugging him while Roger put a hand on his shoulder and while he loved that they cared, their touch was cold and not warm. He felt like he didn't even know anymore what this warmth he was seeking was. He was just aware of the fact that he was hurt and cold and wanted friends.

"So- so it would be bad if I were gone?", Ace asked surprisingly timidly.

"Yes!"

The boy was startled for a moment and for the split of a second Sabo imagined seeing a heartbroken expression on his face. Of course he knew of Ace's issues about his parentage but he had never imagined that Luffy admitting to need Ace so that he wouldn't be lonely anymore would bring forth such a reaction. Luffy's confession sounded rather selfish but there was much more behind it than appeared at first glance. Luffy needed Ace to have a bond with him. Somebody who cared for him and he could rely on. At the same time though he was asking for somebody he could be a strut for, somebody Luffy could care for.

Remembering his own family's attitude, Sabo figured that he also wouldn't mind to have such a bond. Sure, he and Ace were best friends but their relationship with each other had always had the touch of a business arrangement. Probably because neither of them has made friends before.

"Do you want me to live?", Ace finally asked.

"Of course!"

"Too bad I hate crybabies like you!"

"I'm not a crybaby! I'm strong!", Luffy argued.

"Strong people don't get hurt like that!"

"Have you been caught and hurt by pirates before?! And I'm only seven! When I'm ten I will be ten times as strong as you! I promised Shanks I would be the strongest pirate ever!"

"You a pirate? Don't make me laugh!"

While Luffy and Ace kept arguing, Sabo was somewhere completely else with his thoughts. He had been living in the dumps so far and with Bluejam and his crew now after them it certainly wouldn't be safe there anymore.

"Guys… I have a huge problem", Sabo started to speak, interrupting Ace and Luffy's fight through that.

"What?"

"I can't keep living in this dump with all the pirates here."

Luffy and Ace shared a look, Sabo would be lying if he said it wasn't frightening to see the same expression on their faces. But somehow it was very comforting too.

The trio hiked up the mountain to the bandits' hideout. Without much care Ace kicked the door open for them to enter. Luffy, limping from the beating he had received, headed straight for the kitchen. With some food in his stomach he would already feel better.

Meanwhile Sabo saw it fit to introduce himself to Dadan, who looked bewildered at the injured children.

"Yo, I'm Sabo."

"Eh? Aren't you Ace's no-good shit friend?", she retorted.

"Yeah!", he answered smiling. "And you're Dadan! Ace's no-good shit foster mother!"

The leader of the mountain bandits directly hit the brat on the head, Ace and Luffy following suit for their rude behavior. Nobody dared to mention that her hits weren't as hard as usual. Nobody voiced that it might be because of all the injuries the boys obviously had.

 ** _"_** ** _Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act" - Paulo Coelho_**

Within a month Ace wondered how he had ever survived without being so close to Sabo and Luffy. He was so warm and he felt loved in a way he hadn't before. But all the immediate proximity to the other two had let to noticing that there wasn't something quite right with Luffy _and_ Sabo. Ace of course wasn't a good judge of how people were supposed to behave, but he knew there was something off in the way Sabo seemed to have to force himself to talk less formal and the way Luffy often seemed to space out and talk to thin air.

He didn't want to ask them, he wanted to wait for them to come to him. The freckled child was too afraid of the possibility of his newfound bonds breaking, not that he would ever voice that out loud though. Ace considered himself the oldest out of the three, he couldn't show any weakness like that.

And so Ace waited.

He and Sabo showed Luffy how to fight with a pipe. The youngest picked the new fighting style up rather fast, adjusting his battle stance to suit the length and weight of the pipe within a week. Sure, it would take ages for the boy to be able to actually fight with it, Ace couldn't remember ever having been so bad at it, but considering how clumsy and sometimes stupid he was, Luffy was learning surprisingly fast.  
To Ace and Sabo's confusion Luffy also showed an interest in knives one day. He demanded Dogra to give him one of his throwing knifes and when the man didn't obliged, Luffy went ahead and stole one along with some of the cutlery. It ended in a mad chase through the forest and a beating. Luffy never returned those knifes and Ace had to admit that they kind of fit Luffy, even if his aim extremely sucked.

And Ace waited.

They fought the beasts in the forest, the punks out of town, the pirates, basically everyone who thought that the three boys would make a good target because they were children. Obviously they were children, Sabo still didn't have all his teeth, Luffy insisted on being told a bedtime story every night and Ace still looked every other day if his emergency stuffed animal cat, of which he insisted didn't exist, was still in its hiding place. But they were strong and very independent children. They didn't really have a need for adults. Everything they could learn about living alone they did learn. From laundry to cooking to fixing clothes, they learnt how to do it. Luffy sucked at cooking and laundry though, claiming that he would have crewmates to do that and so didn't need to know how to do it whenever it was his turn to take care said jobs. Ace couldn't season a meal or not burn it to save his life, which earned him laundry while Sabo covered cooking. Peeling fruits and vegetables would never be his fort though.

And he waited.

Garp randomly dropped by for a visit like he usually and then proceeded to beat the hell out of them. He had accepted Sabo as his third grandson without any questions asked whatsoever besides "What's your name, brat?" and "Do you want to become a strong marine?". Sabo had learnt to fear the Fist of Love within the first few seconds of being exposed to it.  
Sometimes, Makino visited. Ace was surprised how easily she accepted him and Sabo as Luffy's friends. She brought them new clothes, listened to their complains about the harsh treatment they received from Garp and after a less begging than expected, cooked something for them because nothing could best Makino's meals.

And he waited.

They had run up to the Central District to eat in one of the fancy restaurants. Luffy was still stuffing meat into the bottomless pit that was his stomach, when they decided to get away. The owner of the restaurant was getting too suspicious about the three kids eating lots of expensive dishes. They escaped through the window, the flight plan already having been established before they had even entered the house. Laughing they ran through the streets, Luffy still stuffing meat into himself. It was a miracle how the boy managed to hide so much meat on himself.

"Sabo? Boy, is that you?"

Ace looked back to see a man in fancy clothes, worth at least a week's ratio of food by Luffy standards, shouting after them. Sabo, who was running right next to him, tensed up.

"Sabo, I know it's you! Come back right now!", the man, a damn noble, demanded.

But the trio didn't stop, Sabo actually sped up some more and soon they had left Central District behind them. The walk back to their usual hang out spot was silent, even Luffy had shut up for once. There was something off and Ace wanted to know. No more secrets. Not from Sabo and whatever the fuck was behind the incident just now, and not from Luffy who had mumbled conversations with thin air.

Ace had waited enough.

He couldn't just keep dismissing that Luffy obviously was sleeping worse and worse the more time passed and how Sabo grew nearly unbearable nervous. Ace had grown up between wild animals and mountain bandits, his instincts were good. Even Sabo's nearly perfect acting couldn't hide the fact that he was worried about something.

"Spill. Both of you. I wanna know what the hell just happened there, Sabo, and Luffy, why are you always spacing out and talking to thin air? We said no secrets and I feel like I'm the only one who actually told you everything about me."

Ace knew it was a low blow but he didn't care. He wanted answers. Sabo took his top hat off, trailing over the seams with his fingers and looking as uncomfortable as possible while Ace waited with anticipation for his answers.

"I'm a noble", Sabo finally spoke up. "I ran away from home because I couldn't stand it there anymore. The man who saw me was my father."

"A noble, huh? That's what made you so freakin' nervous?!"

"Yeah!"

"I already knew that!", Luffy cheerfully interrupted their shouting but it went down with Sabo and Ace arguing about how idiotic – or not – Sabo had been over his heritage. It wasn't like Ace was bothered by his, the boy declared, which started a whole new fight.

"But yeah, I ran away because I was nothing but a tool for them. I'm sorry I lied to you", Sabo apologized, bringing an end to his and Ace's discussion. The blonde had enough of their fighting and just wanted to enjoy that neither of them resented him for being born a noble.

"Well, it's their loss anyway! You're ours now!"

Sabo doubted that Ace was aware of how possessive he sounded. He rarely was aware of how territorial he was of his two friends or his food really. Even Luffy knew when he was possessive of his food, especially meat, and the boy wasn't extremely self aware.

Sabo watched how Luffy spaced out again, before recalling what the other had shouted when the blonde and Ace had been fighting.

"Luffy, what did you mean with you already knew I was a noble?"

Luffy smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm not supposed to tell others. Gramps and Shanks said it's dangerous."

"Gramps considers growing up with bandits to be good", Ace shot back to prove that the old marine was indeed not exactly sane. Luffy made his usual thinking face, taking a few seconds to consider if he really should tell them.

"Me and Sabo-"

"Sabo and I", the blonde interrupted.

"Go to hell. Me and that idiot also told you everything, Luffy. It would only be fair if you-"

"Icanseeghosts!", Luffy blurted out.

"What?"

"I can see ghosts! My devil fruit makes me see them!"

Sabo and Ace directly paled and looked around as if they could spot a ghost themselves. They had told each other enough horror stories at night to be mildly freaked out by the statement, even if both of them had assured the other they could totally stomach it.

"More to your right", Luffy commented. "And it's not like they can do anything to you. And it aren't that many because not all stay. Some pass on."

"Oh. Did your ghosts tell you about my parents then?"

"Yes. And they aren't really mine…"

"Whose then?"

"Ace's."

The named dark haired boy froze. He knew exactly what and who Luffy meant by it.

 **Writer's ramblings:  
Updates: As stated in the first chapter, I will update whenever I have the chapter after the next finished or at least halfway through. Chapter 3 will therefore be posted when chapter 4 is at least somewhat half written. I do this to keep myself motivated and hopefully avoid huge breaks between the chapters. Updates will be irregular, I'm sorry, but I suck at staying with deadlines and English is not my first language too so writing chapters as long as these takes me a little longer than others.**

 **Luffy's Devil Fruit: The** _Yūrei Yūrei_ _no mi_ **is a devil fruit I made up, though there are others with the same name on some fan wikis. It is a Paramecia type that allows the user to interact with ghosts. They can distinguish between the living and the dead though.**

 **Different devil fruit, different fighting style and attacks too but I won't deny Luffy any canon abilities he has that don't come from his devil fruit *cough* hint hint for** _LaysinessIncarnate_ **who asked *cough*.  
The moment Luffy seems overpowered, please, feel free to hit me. I want to avoid that at all costs. At the moment I think I'm pretty safe though, my biggest problem is actually how to keep Luffy alive since every enemy is so damn strong.**

 **OCs: won't appear if not necessary. I personally don't like it if there are too many OCs and One Piece is such a huge world with so many characters, I don't think I will need more. So I doubt there will appear many if at all in the future, besides a random ghost they ask for directions.**

 **Finally, I am searching for a beta reader! I really need somebody who would proofread this and help me out a little planning out future chapters (like if the speed of the story is alright, etc.). So if anybody has interest, PM me?**

 **Thanks to all of you who have reviewed like woah. I didn't expect so many comments and all of you are so nice and I'm hella motivated to write this story! Thank you so much! Have a good day/night!**


	3. To build a home

**Back with an update after two months? Woah, a lot of time has passed. Promise the next chapter will be up next weekend or the week after! It's already done as this chapter and the next were actually one huge chapter.  
A thousand thanks to _Wordlet_ who beta read this chapter! I've learnt a lot from her corrections and this chapter wouldn't be as good as it is now without her hard work.  
I hope you will like this chapter! Enjoy!**

 ** _"The quality of our lives depends not on whether or not we have conflicts, but on how we respond to them." – Thomas Crum_**

Expressing emotions wasn't an easy task despite being a fundamental part of life. Between finding the right gestures and words, managing one's expressions and tones and then utilizing all of them at the same time, it was so easy to mess up and get at least one wrong. A minor mistake could result in the largest of consequences.

It was easier to just not bother with it sometimes and, instead of facing the situation at hand, avoid the dilemma altogether. But most forgot that every action, even avoidance, was a reaction, another aspect of the delicate language that was human interaction.

For one moment Ace was still, frozen in his panic. All color had left his face, his brown eyes had widened. His mouth was slightly opened, but the words that should have left it were forgotten.  
The only sounds came from the life within the jungle and the sea, whose waves crashed against the cliff.  
Then, just as if somebody had flipped a switch, instinctual hysteria took over Ace and he had been gone in an instant, fleeing into the trees.  
He was faster than usual, just desperate to get away, entirely uncaring about the trail of havoc his frantic retreat made. Within seconds he was gone, lost to the shadows and the dark greens of the jungle.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted, his arm outstretched as if he could catch the other boy like that. He wanted to go after Ace but Sabo held him back by the hem of his shirt and then pulled him close to get a more secure grip on Luffy.

When Ace and Sabo had first met his parentage hadn't bothered Ace as much as it did now. He had been younger and more naïve, less aware, both of them had been. If Sabo were to blame anybody on Ace's growing conflict with himself, his finger would point at the old drunkards of Gray Terminal and Edge Town cursing Gold Roger and his blood. Despite that they had never met the Pirate King themselves, they believed to have the authority to hate him. After all, everybody hated that man, and spitting his name like a curse might actually work after some time.

Sabo had always thought of the Pirate King as an interesting individual. He had been, without a doubt, the strongest and freest man to ever live, goals Sabo had set for himself. He often wondered what the man had seen on his adventures, who he might have met and above all why he wasn't there for his son now. Smart as he may be (and more than aware of the fact that pirates rarely cared about any possible family they left behind) Sabo had hoped Roger was different despite the living proof of his callous desertion- Ace.

That Roger was here now, it had to mean _something_ , right?

Having been so deep in thought, Sabo hadn't even noticed that Luffy had stopped struggling against his grip.

"Let go of me! I wanna go after Ace!" The seven year old demanded, tense and glowering at Sabo's restraining arms. Jolted out of his musings again, Sabo let go of his friend.

"Ace needs some time to sort out his thoughts. We should leave him alone," Sabo explained but that didn't seem to be a good enough reasoning for Luffy. He couldn't quite grasp the concept of taking time to sort things out, nor did he understand it. Being alone was still only something he associated with pain.

"But when Ace is alone, he always, always, _always_ gets sad!"

"Sometimes people need to be alone, Luffy. Ace does right now."

"That's stupid," Luffy complained but sat down with his arms crossed. "I'd never want to be alone."

Concluding that he had won the argument, Sabo sat down next to the younger and tried to think of something to distract Luffy until Ace came back to them.

"How about you tell me about your devil fruit powers?" Sabo finally asked.

"I don't want to, they're stupid," Luffy replied, looking down. After all, if he didn't have them, Ace would still be there with them. They weren't anything nice or fun and so the boy didn't want to talk about them.

"Really? I think they're cool!" Sabo told the younger with as much cheer as he could muster. "Devil fruits are unique, aren't they? So you're the only person who could ever tell us if the hollow tree in the mountains is actually haunted! And I bet lots and lots of ghost pirates can tell you about their adventures!"

"The tree isn't haunted," Luffy muttered, the corners of the mouth already twitching a bit upwards again. Then he slowly started to explain what he knew about his powers so far, and Sabo's eyes widened with every new piece of information processed. Sabo had known of Luffy's nightmares, it was hard not to considering they were sleeping right next to each other and Luffy _always_ woke him up, but he had been unaware of how terrible exactly they were. Nor had the blonde known Luffy would be constantly surrounded by living corpses if he didn't actively concentrate on conjuring the looks the ghosts had possessed when blood had been still rushing through their veins. Luffy's ability to let the dead possess him, to give up the control of his own body didn't sound any less terrifying.

It made Sabo wonder how Luffy could smile as brightly as he did.

 ** _"Do not kid yourself, a conflict is never about the surface issue. It's about one's unsaid, untreated and unhealed wounds." – Unknown_**

Ace was well aware that he was acting like a weak coward, but that knowledge didn't stop his feet from running farther and farther away from their hill. Luffy's words rang like loud sirens in his head, drowning out anything else he could have been on his mind.

Of all the things Ace had expected Luffy to tell them, it hadn't been this. Everything else, no matter how ridiculous, he could have dealt with easily, Ace was sure. Maybe he could have pretended that Luffy was lying, completely ignoring the fact that Luffy could not lie at all. As long as it didn't involve his parents, he was convinced he could have pulled it off.

But Ace, ten years old and raised in a world that hated Gold Roger as if he were all the evil of the world incarnated, did not know what to do now and it angered him.

He smashed his pipe against the nearest tree, the force behind the strike nearly knocking the trunk to the ground. Ghosts were just elements out of horror stories, how could they be real? Why did _Ace's_ have to be real? He could have lived perfectly fine without the knowledge that his mother, whose death was to blame on him, and Gold Roger were still there, right beside him.

"Why," he asked hoarsely. "Why do you have to be here?"

Right next to the now damaged tree, Ace sank to the ground. He pulled his knees to his chest, buried his face in his hands and tried so hard to control his breathing and not let the sobs escape. Crying was a weakness he couldn't allow himself to have. Any weakness had to be banished from him, otherwise, and this he knew better than anybody else, he would end up like the weak of the Terminal: dead.

He didn't know how long he spent sitting there and trying to keep still when the only thing he actually wanted to do was trash this place, the entire forest if he had to. That was how he usually dealt with his anger, confusion, just anything he didn't have control over. There never was somebody to talk to, lashing out was simply easier. It drowned out the voices and issues that hurt him. But it wasn't like he could lash out now, there was nobody but him here and both Luffy and Sabo deserved better than being at the receiving end of his anger.  
By the time he was forced to get up again the sky above him was nearly entirely dark, only strains of the orange sunset remaining. With food in his stomach, he reasoned, he'd find a better way to deal with Luffy's devil fruit powers, to deal with his own issues. His pipe, and composure, back in hand, Ace went to search for his meal and a solution.

 ** _"Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day" ― Alice Morse Earle_**

Ace didn't come back the next day, nor the day after that nor the one after that. Sabo was starting to regret having let him go, he hadn't expected Ace to stay away so long hadn't believed the revelation would throw him so far out of his comfort zone. As uneasy as Sabo was, he tried his best to not show it in front of Luffy. The little black haired troublemaker was feeling bad enough as it was. Not because he was worried about Ace's health, _Rouge_ had told Luffy that Ace was physically fine, but because he wasn't back yet. For the seven year old that was apparently a sign that Ace didn't want to be friends with them anymore.

Luffy blamed himself. Had he just kept his mouth shut and not told them just like gramps and Shanks had advised, then Ace would still be there. Ace probably hated him now and it was all Luffy's fault. All his fault the other boy was gone and _alone_ , just like Sabo and him were on their own now, though they at least had each other.

Though Sabo knew his efforts to cheer Luffy up and distract him were mostly fruitless, he still tried. He taught Luffy how to fish properly, sparred here and there a bit with him and talked about their resident ghosts.

At the moment (according to Luffy) only Ace's mother, Rouge, was with them, Roger kept watch over Ace. Luffy always informed Sabo when the ghosts switched, even though he didn't know what to make of that information at first. It wasn't like he could see them, so the updates were more or less useless to him.

At least Luffy didn't try to hide his conversations with the ghosts anymore. The odd mumbling Sabo had sometimes heard coming from Luffy was fully replaced with sudden outbursts and seemingly one sided conversations.

But ever since they had come back from their last hunting trip, Luffy had been unusually silent. Sabo watched Luffy out of the corner of his eye, but the boy hadn't done anything yet, only changed his position a few times. Shifting from cross-legged, to his knees, to leaning forward on his hands and staring intently at space, but never making much sound.

Content that Luffy wasn't causing any dire trouble, Sabo turned his attention back to grilling their latest catch. The silence lasted for another few minutes before the younger suddenly burst into laughter, causing Sabo to nearly drop the meat into the ashes.

"What are you laughing about?" he asked, bemused, half turning to look at Luffy, sitting cross legged and leaning forward eagerly.

"Rouge's story! It's really funny!" Luffy chirped in swift response. "Did the Black King and the Flower Queen make it out of the White Kingdom's prison?" Luffy asked, looking away from Sabo and up at empty space. Silence reigned while Luffy fidgeted, listening to what was nonexistent to Sabo. Then the younger let out a scream of joy, jumping up while he was at it. He performed a silly little dance and smiled brighter than he had since Ace's departure.

Relief washed through the ten year old when he saw how happy his friend was right now. He wouldn't mind listening to that fairy tale too if it had the ability to cheer him up.

"Luffy," Sabo spoke up, "What story did Rouge tell you?"

"My favorite! It's a really awesome one especially since the Flower Queen-", Luffy abruptly stopped talking, a confused expression replacing his cheerful one. "Why can't I tell Sabo the end?" he asked the empty space that was, apparently, Rouge.

Sabo watched with as Luffy argued with Rouge, the black haired boy's expression shifting before finally settling on acceptance and understanding.

"Okay, Sabo. Rouge says I can't tell you the story's end because that would ruin the whole story for you, so she's just gonna tell us the whole thing now," Luffy explained.

"And how should that work?" Sabo pulled their meal off the flame and batted away Luffy's wandering hand with practiced ease. "I can't hear or see her and you told me you don't like to be possessed."

Luffy frowned and crossed his arms, clearly thinking about a way to solve the problem that Sabo had just reminded him existed. He really wanted Sabo to hear the story, but Sabo couldn't see or hear Rouge and she couldn't write anything and maybe he should get more comfortable with his powers and practice but he didn't feel like doing that _now_...

"Rouge can just tell me the story _really slowly_ and I'll repeat what she says!" Luffy cheered at his own ingenuity and looked to Sabo for his approval and praise. But to his disappointment Sabo didn't look as excited as him. The blonde was a little nervous as he tried to figure out how to gently explain to Luffy why his idea probably wasn't going to go over very well.

"No offense, Luffy, but you're not exactly good at-"

"I don't care," Sabo was interrupted by the younger who shook his head in determination. "We'll do it like that and I'm gonna try super hard to not mess up, okay?"

Sighing Sabo agreed and started to cut off bits of the grilled meat for them to eat while Luffy started to repeat the story - slowly. The start was a bit rough as Luffy made a lot of mistakes but the longer he talked, the fewer mistakes he made. Soon Sabo found himself enamored with the story and for a while even he could forget about his problems, Ace's disappearance, his parents, his worry for Luffy who was exposed, all alone, to live partially in a world neither he nor Ace could touch. It was a strange experience for him to be so excited by something as simple as a story. Then again, Sabo had never been told one.

One more day passed before Ace finally returned to them. At that time Sabo and Luffy were listening to yet another story with Luffy mispronouncing words here and there as the plot thickened and he got too distracted to pay close attention to his translation for Sabo.

The way Rouge told the stories wove the far kingdoms and islands of the Grand Line into existence around them. Sabo had only ever read about these sorts of places in fairy tales and it made the boy ache for them and the adventure that gathered around them. He wanted to see them himself, sail to the land in the clouds and visit the home of angels himself, dive deep to the ocean ground and dine with the god of the sea and finally visit the kingdom of talking animals who lived on the back of a giant _elephant_.

But for now they were only sitting around a small fire still on Dawn Island, the leftovers from their dinner lying next to them. Rouge had just started to get to the _scary_ part of the story which had resulted in Luffy sitting on Sabo's lap. It wasn't that he was scared, not at all, Luffy had insisted. It was simply more comfortable sitting on the blonde's lap than on the ground.

"-and then the Black King and the Magician ran after the captured mermaid to save-", Luffy didn't finish the sentence, his attention caught by the figure loitering in the shadows of the treeline.

"ACE!" Luffy and Sabo shouted and jumped up.

"I'm sorry for staying away so long I-", Ace began but was interrupted by Luffy who threw himself at the boy. Sobbing, not yet crying, and hiding his face in Ace's shirt. Luffy was so, so glad. Ace had come back, they were back together again just like how it should be.

"You're baaaack," Luffy sobbed.

"And you're still a crybaby."

"Did you expect anything else from him?" Sabo asked before pulling them both to a hug. "Don't ever pull shit like that again, you idiot."

"I won't, promise. I just didn't know what to do. I-" Ace paused, appearing far more helpless than Sabo had ever remembered him looking. He held his pipe in front of him, rubbed over the metal with his thumbs and twisted the pipe in his hands, something he usually only did when he was nervous before a fight. Sabo was at loss for words, he needed something to ease the situation that Ace was clearly uncomfortable with.

"Your mom is really pretty!" Luffy broke the awkward silence suddenly. "She has this really long pink-blonde hair, it looks like, like, strawberry lemonade! Oh, and a flower in her hair! You know the ones that grow near the clearing up at the river? She loves you lots! And you have the same freckles!"

"My mother..?" Ace echoed, taken by surprise.

"And she tells great stories!" Sabo blurted. "She told me and Luffy fairy tales the past few days. Most of the time Luffy is just repeating her words because he doesn't like being possessed but one time she did possess him! It's really weird-" _Luffy was listening_. "Eh- I meant it's super cool to see your mom kinda possessing Luffy so it's her speaking but Luffy's body! You'll really enjoy listening to those stories and- Ace, are you crying?"

"I"m not!" the boy insisted while rubbing over his eyes with the back of his hand.

 ** _"You have to accept the storms and the rainy days and the things in life you sometimes don't want to face" – Bai Ling_**

Ace often asked Luffy about his mother, ignoring the presence of the dead Pirate King all together. Without any complaining Luffy would directly deliver a message or try to describe her looks to the best of his ability. With the vocabulary of a seven year old it certainly wasn't an exactly easy task for Luffy to accurately describe how Rouge's smiles always made the whole world seem like a better place or how her freckles reminded him of the stars above, but he tried. He tried so very hard and Ace appreciated every detail, even the tiniest piece of information.

Mothers, _his mother_ , had always been an abstract concept to him, almost as strange as Garp's dysfunctional idea of him joining the marines, who wanted him dead. The few seconds Ace had spent with his mother he couldn't even remember and Garp hadn't been too keen on sharing any information about Rouge. Ace knew Dadan was supposed to be kind of his foster mother but at heart she still was a bandit and no mother material. She had done her job at bringing him up so far but you didn't have to be a mother, or even loving to raise a child. She had accepted Ace and made sure he wouldn't die on his own but there hadn't been much _mothering_ in the past years.

So for Ace to be told that a woman with a kind voice and gentle smiles was watching over him, happy and proud of his achievements and thankful that he was alive, gave him a vague experience of a happiness he wasn't sure he had known before. His mother _loved_ him and wanted him to _live_. Despite that his birth, his existence, was the reason for her death, she still loved him. She did not think of him as a devil's child. For Ace that was a nearly unbelievable circumstance.

He adored his mother and with a childish glee he hadn't shown before, he couldn't wait for sunset to come when they would all sit around the fire and let her words take them to far places.

His father was a whole other deal.

Gold Roger, Gol _D._ Roger as Luffy insisted the man wished to be remembered, had always been the shadow Ace wanted to get rid of. Ace had hated the man for giving him his cursed blood, for dying like a coward, for leaving his mother.

Ten years of being told and honestly believing that his existence was a sin just because his father happened to be Gold Roger, Gol D. Roger, weren't easily forgotten or forgiven.

Ace didn't want to be hunted for _his_ blood, it should be _him_ the marines wanted, not Ace. But nobody would ever see him as Ace if they knew of his heritage, the drunkards of Gray Terminal and Edge Town had proven that. He would always be their only chance at getting revenge at the monster, Gold Roger.

And so Ace carefully watched as Luffy interacted with Roger, not that he could perceive the other half of the conversation, but the determination to tell the ghost off the second he came even close to upsetting Luffy made up for his lack of hearing and sight.

He stuck closer to the younger boy than he usually would have, something Sabo took great pleasure in pointing out by calling him an overprotective mother hen. But Ace would show him that it wasn't because of Luffy, he was _not_ a mother hen! He was just out to prove that Roger was indeed a bastard. And the only way to actually know how horrible Roger was behaving, was to catch him upsetting Luffy. Ace would catch the man acting just according to the stories everybody cursed him for. One of these days one of Ace's below the belt comments would have the man show his true colors. Not even the Pirate King could pretend to be a good guy all the time.

But all of Ace's efforts on trying to catch Roger misstep seemed to go to waste as the man continued on, proving he was actually less of an annoying reminder of the past and more of a great asset for the future. Either he didn't mind or didn't care about Ace's comments as he didn't seem to react to them at all. The man even offered to help them with their training, which Ace, albeit grudgingly, had to accept because Luffy was immediately hooked. Sabo and he had long since learnt that if there was something Luffy really wanted, he would not change his mind, no matter how stupid his craving was. Ace couldn't even complain about Roger's tips because they improved faster than they ever had before. That and he had to admit that it was nice to be told what stance gave the most flexibility and how to grip a pipe properly than to figure it out through trial and error, which usually brought a lot of injuries. Roger and Rouge corrected a few things before they actually even started to fight and when the actual spar started they informed Luffy of what Ace and Sabo did wrong. Throughout their fights the boy interrupted them and passed the ghosts' critiques on by shouting at his friends. While it did anger Ace to hear how much he did wrong, he saw the results of the training himself. He maybe wasn't as smart as Sabo but he wasn't so stupid as to let his pride get in the way of improvement.

At least his mother attended their training as well, though she was mostly teaching Luffy how to turn cutlery into deadly projectiles, which so far didn't work out for Luffy because his aim abysmally sucked and he never managed to actually hit a target. But he would get there, Ace was sure of it.

As time passed Ace noticed that he had started to have a hard time seeing Roger as the monster everybody believed the man to be. He _knew_ all the stories about how Roger tore down entire ships himself, cared for nobody and only ever did what he desired to, not spending a single second thinking about the consequences. Everyone only ever spoke about the terror the man was to the world, everyone but his mother. Ace, unlike Luffy, noticed that a lot of the stories his mother told were about the man. The image of Roger as a stone hearted monster was not compatible with the free and brave man, who did everything and more for his nakama. He wasn't the same man his mother told them about every night in the light of a blazing campfire. She obviously loved the man and Luffy's utter adoration for the man was obvious, despite his attempts to hide said sentiments. And he _still_ had yet to catch Roger being a bastard.

"Gold Roger is my father," Ace muttered while watching Sabo and Luffy count their money. "Gol D. Roger is my dad."

It didn't sound as terrible as it used to. It rolled easier over his tongue, didn't leave such a foul taste in his mouth and didn't make him wish he could go after the man himself. He still felt uneasy, still wished that he had another father, a _different_ father, but the hatred he had harbored for the man wasn't the same anymore. Doubt had decreased it.

He didn't think he would come to accept the man into his family in the future, Ace thought as he hefted another bag of loot and carried it over to his friends, helping them count the money. But maybe he could arrange himself with the man being there.

 ** _"The home should be the treasure chest of living." - Le Corbusier_**

Another month passed and midsummer had finally come to Dawn Island. The air in the jungle was even muggier than usual and exhaustion settled quickly into their bodies. Ace had gotten accustomed to the ghosts being there for them far quicker than he had expected them to. He even stopped being on edge because of Roger, though he continued to refuse to call him father. He was on speaking terms with the man now (as much speaking as he could do with a translator like Luffy), much to his mother's joy, and the all around tension had dropped.

However, midsummer hadn't brought just acceptance but also the suggestion to move out of Dadan's hideout. They stayed outside the whole day training anyway and only returned for a good night's rest, and even that not always. Besides, all their valuable belongings were hidden in the jungle because they were sure the bandits would steal them. Moving into the jungle, Sabo had concluded his speech, was therefore the only reasonable step.

Luffy had clapped and then proceeded to smack Ace, who had fallen asleep after giving his okay past the first few sentences. Like usual that woke Ace up from his nap and also earned Luffy a smack against his head, quickly leaving a red bump. Sabo sighed as he watched his friends engaged in yet another fist-and-tickle fight he would probably have to break up.

At least it proved that he was the eldest, Sabo thought while he turned around to look up to the tree he wanted to build their new house in. They should be able to get most materials they'll need to build it in the jungle or Gray Terminal and Dadan probably wouldn't mind if they borrowed some stuff from the bandits. Probably.

"Our home will be great," Sabo concluded. "We're going to put our flag on top, just like you would on a ship. We will be so far up, we can see the whole ocean! And also be safe from animals. I never want to be woken up by a pack wolf again..."

Sabo shuddered remembering that incident. It had certainly taught them not to sleep near the caves on the north side of the jungle. "What do you think?"

"Rouge and Roger said that they think it's a good idea!" Luffy shouted between his laughing.

As if that was all the confirmation Sabo needed, he began sketching blueprints into the ground, each one bigger and better than the next. After what felt like an hour, Ace and Luffy had solved their chase through the trees themselves and sat down next to Sabo and gave extremely helpful suggestions, for example that they should have a huge slide to get down to the ground again. They bickered for another week, made plans, discarded them and reformed them before finally settling on a design that all three liked and also had adult approval.

Loaded with bags and pulling small carts behind them they went down to Gray Terminal to gather materials. Nails, tools, a broken steering wheel, wood- all sorts of useful things were put into their bags and carts.

It reminded Roger a bit of the time Rayleigh and he rebuilt their boat after they had managed to incur a Sea King's wrath. The only difference was that in front of him his children were building a treehouse and not a boat. One wooden plank was nailed on another and slowly but steadily their new home came to be. The mess they created while doing so was about the same size as Roger's had been too.

When only the roof was left to build, the trio spent their first night in their home. Above them shone the stars and despite having nothing comfortable to lie on, they all agreed they had slept better that night than ever before.

They woke up with their limbs entangled and Sabo, who was a far lighter sleeper than the other two, couldn't bring himself to push Ace and Luffy off himself, despite their drool ending up on his clothes. They finished the roof and carried all of their stuff into the treehouse. Their few belongings made the whole house feel even more like an actual home. The trio (plus ghosts) easily fell into a routine, in which everyone had a job to do and nobody was left out. Whether it was training or hunting, maintaining their home or asking Makino to bring them stuff out of Foosha they couldn't get themselves, everybody had their place and their role.

But then one night came a storm, with enough power to uproot even the oldest and biggest trees to Goa Kingdom. It rushed over the island, taking lives and homes alike so that in the morning many of Goa's citizens had to figure out where to start with picking their lives up again. It was then that something shifted in the trio's perspective of what the future would be like. Acceptance changed into inclusion.

They had decided to go down to Gray Terminal to search for tools and materials as their home needed a lot of fixing after the storm. A wooden house up in a tree could only withstand so much after all. It was a miracle it had survived the storm at all while its owners sat it out in a cave.

Their trip to the trash hive was done in defiance of the warning they had gotten from Ace's parents. Both ghosts felt like there was something off in Gray Terminal and its borders but since it was less of a concrete warning and more advisory, Ace had decided that if there was no tangible danger, there was no reason they should stay at home. Their home was missing parts of the roof and half of its fence, which already resulted in Luffy nearly falling down _twice_ , so they had to fix it one way or another.

And it wasn't like the trio wasn't strong. No ordinary kids their age could live in the jungle. Survive, maybe, but they could never _thrive_ like they did. If there was any kind of danger ahead, they would crush it.

They were perhaps a little more careful than usual. Instead of going to one of the many swap shops or to the parts of the trash hive where Goa Kingdom's new scrapped objects lay, they stuck to the borders of Gray Terminal, which were full of actual useless trash. It didn't take long for Ace to get frustrated about the lack of success in finding anything useful. He wasn't as patient as Sabo, who could dig through the junk for hours as he had used to, nor was he as carefree as Luffy, who could completely blind out any kind of failure (and apparently also smell). Sighing he turned to his friends to ask if they have had any success so far. But the words never left his mouth, as instead of the expected two, only one other hatted boy was searching through the trash. To make everything worse, the missing one was also the one who couldn't properly defend himself and whose self-preservation instincts were next to nonexistent.

It seemed to be utterly impossible that Luffy, despite being closely guarded by them, somehow had managed to wander away on his own.

"Sabo, where's Luffy?"

The blonde boy looked as confused as Ace when he couldn't see the youngest anywhere close by. He was so sure that Luffy had been right beside him just seconds ago.

"You don't think he wandered off alone?"

The only answer he got was Ace's unimpressed stare. A few seconds passed before the two simultaneously groaned. Finding Luffy's pipe leant against a nearby trash mound only increased their worries- their only hope was that at least one of the ghosts had followed Luffy so that he wouldn't get into too much trouble. Luffy was unlucky enough when he had people around to protect him, when he was completely alone and defenseless? The boy really had the most rotten luck in the world.

They searched the whole day for their missing member. At first they had been sure Luffy would turn up again just after the next corner. They were sure they had felt something just a few minutes ago, not quite able to pinpoint what it was. But one corner followed another and minutes stretched into hours without any sign of Luffy. That was when they noticed their heartbeats' accelerating, their clenched fists and their suddenly looming fear of finding Luffy, not alright, but beaten up and bleeding out.

 **Writer's ramblings:  
And done! When I first started this chapter I thought I would be done after 4500 words or so and that it would be the last chapter of their childhood. Ha. I was a fool. Two more chapters, three at max until Luffy's journey starts!**

 **(And I'll probably end up writing some more about their childhood anyway, just as One Shots or so but I think you too prefer it if this story continues with plot instead of another few thousand words of just cute but pointless ASL fluff.)**

 **DarkkingMB: Yeah, I agree with you, Roger probably wouldn't become a ghost in canon. But the opportunity _was_ too good and here it's less of a "you become a ghost if you regret something" and more if somebody's will to stay is strong enough. Like just watch. You can be completely content with your life and death and still end up staying.**

 **Guest 3: I will let you know that the _Straw Hat Pirates' very concerned but proud dead family member Club_ is/will be a thing**

 **I was asked about ships on AO3 so: actually I have none planned, I'd rather focus on friendships/family and, of course, Luffy's devil fruit.**

 **Finally, thank you all for your nice reviews and suggestions on what else to do with Luffy's devil fruit! They were and still are a great help! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter too!**


	4. Acceptance

**Here is the next chapter! Beta read by the amazing** ** _Wordlet_** **! AN as always at the bottom! I hope you'll like it!**

 ** _"_** ** _Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it. We must protect it by changing the world." - Elie Wiesel_**

If one of your loved ones was in danger, it was your duty to protect them from harm with everything you had. Sometimes you were unable to make it, and it hurt more than anything else. But those times you do managed to become a shield, standing strong against everything, your reward was great than anything else.

The youngest had been entirely unaware of the distress his disappearance he would cause when he had walked off with Roger to discover the source of an especially shiny gleam he had spotted in the distance. He had hoped the golden glint would belong to a hidden treasure, carelessly thrown away by High Town nobles. Luffy envisioned himself opening a golden box full of shiny jewelry; red, green and blue diamonds hanging from gold necklaces and then using them to pay for vast quantities of the best meat in the whole world and, of course, the tools they needed to repair their home. Maybe the treasure would even be big enough to buy a ship too! Then his friends and he could go off to fulfill their dreams right away and sail to the Grand Line!

A huge smile in place and his daydreams urging him forward, Luffy raced to his destination. Here and there he nearly tripped over some trash, only catching himself from falling in the last second, but nevertheless he made his way straightforward to his would-be treasure.

When he arrived at the big trash heap, Luffy immediately began to climb up it, his gaze never leaving the golden glimmer at the top. Scowling he realized that it wasn't as easy to get to the treasure as he had previously thought. He kept losing his footholds, causing him to forfeit height previously acquired. But he wouldn't let that stop him from earning his treasure. In Rouge's stories the knights also always had to work hard for their treasure so it made sense that Luffy didn't have an easy time either!

Luffy had crossed out the possibility of going back to Ace and Sabo without anything valuable in his hands, unwilling to face the teasing he would definitely have to endure. Therefore Luffy tried his hardest once more and the rest of the distance was conquered. He let out a shout of joy and immediately reached inside the trash to pull his treasure out.

But to his annoyance he discovered that his arm wasn't able to touch the gold at all. He was missing perhaps a finger's length. This treasure hunt was turning out to be the hardest one _ever_. Frustrated Luffy pulled his arm out again. Sabo and Ace would be able to reach the gold with no problem but he didn't want to ask them. He wanted to do this himself!

"You could try holding onto a stick and pulling the gold out with that," Roger suggested absently.

Luffy jumped, the man had been rather silent the whole time, busy watching their surroundings. The boy had nearly forgotten that he hadn't run off on his own.

"Then my arm would be longer!" Luffy reasoned. "That's a good idea! Thanks!"

He didn't even have to search for a stick, Gray Terminal had all kinds of sticks, he simply grabbed one of those lying nearby - of which there were a lot. Once again he reached into the trash, this time using his stick and to his delight it actually worked. He pulled out a big but broken necklace that looked more or less like he had imagined it. It was admittedly just a very small treasure, and the clasp was broken but for the seven year old it didn't make much difference. He had put a lot of work into getting it after all!

"Roger! Look! I-" Luffy stopped talking when he saw the man stare at something on the other side of the trash mountain. Curious about what had caught his interest, Luffy climbed a little higher to be able to take a look too.

Two men that were vaguely familiar to Luffy talked with hushed voices, trying to avoid being overheard, but gesticulating eagerly. One of them was rather short, his blonde hair almost brown because of the dirt, while the other was exceptionally fat. He was probably even fatter than Lucky Roo, Luffy was sure.

"Luffy, run!" Roger suddenly shouted, his voice full of panic, staring at something behind the boy.

Luffy heard the trash rattle behind him, but before he could turn around to see what had caused Roger so much distress, or follow his order, a man's large hands caught him by his collar and he was lifted up in the air. From one second to another Luffy felt just as if he had forgotten how to breathe, the incidents with the bandits and the pirates fresh in his mind. He thought of being taken away and beaten again, bleeding and being in so much pain. His heartbeat quickened and all sounds beside the one of his blood rushing through his ears were dulled. His vision got blurry and fright nearly overwhelmed him.

All the clever tricks the ghosts had been teaching them on how to escape another's grip were entirely wiped off his mind. Only the most basic knowledge remained so Luffy started to thrash around, hoping to hit the man and get away. But all of Luffy's efforts were useless as the man easily lifted him higher, holding him so that his collar pressed against his throat uncomfortably.

"Hey!" the man shouted to gain the attention of the other two, who immediately looked up to him. "You idiots can't even notice a brat listening to you?"

"What the- that brat wasn't there just a second ago, I swear!" the blonde insisted.

"Well, it was just now, Marc," the man spat. "Your swearing ain't worth anything."

"But-"

"Shut up," he growled and the two men on the ground averted their gazes.

"Let go of me!" Luffy croaked but his demand was ignored. "I said let go-" The end of the sentence died out in a coughing fit as the man shook him, making Luffy feel even more helpless and weak.

"Hey, isn't he that the brat that hangs out with Ace and Sabo?" the fat man asked, studying Luffy's face. "Haven't seen those two in some time but I swear I saw them dragging him along."

The one holding Luffy seemed entirely unimpressed by the statement. "Because we can count so much on your damn swearing."

"No, no, he's right. I was there when Porchemy grabbed the brat. Ace and Sabo saved him," the blonde came to the fat man's aid.

Luffy, despite his wriggling, was lifted up even higher, his brown eyes meeting the man's. A large ugly scar ran across the man's face and the angry scowl terrified Luffy even further. The man's intense gaze reminded Luffy far too much of the ones of the huge predators in the jungle they weren't able to take down yet.

"And you two are absolutely sure? If you're not then-"

"We are sure!" they replied before the man could finish his threat.

"Good, then we'll use him as bait," he decided. "Outlook's gonna be real thankful he'll get his brat back so quick. I bet we'll even get a bonus."

"But the Captain said we should wait a little more to get Sabo. Need Outlook to be indebted to us or something."

"Do I look like I care about Bluejam?" the man scoffed. "We're gonna do it how _I_ say."

The man made his way down the trash heap, having thrown Luffy over his shoulder like baggage.

"Luffy! Luffy are you listening to me? You need to calm down."

Roger's words reached the boy only distantly, fear blocking out most. But with the ghost trying to touch him, a cold hand that wasn't quite tangible grazing his cheeks, Luffy could momentarily focus on something other than being taken away _again_.

"Luffy, I won't let them hurt you. Let me help you."

Luffy held his hand out for Roger to take and braced himself the best he could for what would come. He felt cold wrap around his hand before something else seeped into his head and he lost control of his own body. This was nothing compared to being possessed by one of Shanks' crew members. The late Pirate King had a far stronger presence, pushing Luffy to the back of his own mind without even trying. It felt almost as if Luffy didn't have any room in his head, as if he was being completely overtaken and the pressure of the whole world was keeping him squashed and immobile in the back corner of his being. There was no questioning how this man used to be the world's strongest when the remains of him were that strong.

" _Let go of him_ ," Roger ordered the men who hadn't taken any notice of the change.

Roger's voice had been barely above a whisper but its effect was immense. The men directly stopped talking, moving even. The air thickened and after a tense moment of almost ethereal silence they each went limp and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Luffy barely had enough time to adjust to being bundled away in his mind as he was quickly back in control of his body. He took a deep breath, the feeling of being pushed down not disappearing immediately. His head was ringing, the world seemed to be spinning around and the dizziness nearly made him throw up. Luffy wasn't sure how long he just stood there trying to get a grip on himself again. Then, slowly, he took a step forward, figuring the best way to start making sense of a spinning world was to find Ace or Sabo and have them explain it. Another step followed the first and shakily Luffy made his way out of Gray Terminal, too focused on each suddenly arduous movement to spare a thought to looking back even once.

 ** _"_** ** _Many men can make a fortune but few can built a family" – J.S. Bryan_**

Ace and Sabo had collected scratches and scrapes while running through Gray Terminal and the jungle, worry and panic making them a lot less careful. They had stumbled and fallen, argued and blamed each other, stood up again and made peace. There was no telling what kind of problems the youngest could have gotten into by now. Luffy was so prone to attracting the worst kind of problems after all. But after three days without rest they had to succumb to their exhausted bodies. Adrenaline had kept them up for a long time but even that ran out after some time. Only the knowledge that Luffy probably wasn't completely alone, gave the two ten year olds some heart-balm. They didn't know how badly Rouge wanted to explain the situation to them. But the barrier between her and her children was far too big. They couldn't know how she wanted to hold them close and explain that Roger was with him and he'd _never_ let anything happen to their youngest friend. She didn't and never would regret her life and death but she still yearned for what she couldn't have.

Ace wondered if Sabo and Luffy had felt just as helpless when he had left them to their own devices, even though his absence had been an attempt to protect his brothers from his own anger where this was Luffy wandering off and getting himself into trouble that would keep him away for _three, whole, days_. Guilt gnawed at him and urged him to force himself to get up again and keep searching, even harder than before. He wanted to listen to those urges, but his body did not, would not. Without a doubt Ace was strong, stronger than most children his age, but his body couldn't keep up with his heart's demands. Like so many before him he felt betrayed by his own strength, and was now left to think that it had been playing a trick on him all along as it did not come to him now when he felt he needed it the most. He bit his lip until he tasted blood, wondering how Luffy could have just disappeared from the face of earth.

Ace sagged against the wooden wall of their tree house, once again cursing that he didn't take his parents' wariness more seriously. His father was the Pirate King after all! The man who had sailed the whole world! If he was saying that there was something wrong, then there probably was. But Ace had let his stupid, childish, unreasonable anger get the better of him and take his friends out to Gray Terminal anyway.

"Stop it," Sabo suddenly spoke up.

"Stop what?"

"Blaming yourself."

"I'm not-"

The sound of creaking branches stopped Ace from ever finishing his sentence. He and Sabo shared a look before both of them grabbed their pipes and slunk to the only entrance of their home. They both held their pipes just out of sight while standing on each side of the doorway, ready to defend their home, despite their less than shining physical condition. A full out fight now would not end in their favor so they hoped an unexpected and fast ambush would do the job.

Ace tapped his fingers along the shaft of his pipe while Sabo bit his lip in worry, both waited, tense for the intruder to show themselves. Ace jumped forward and swung his pipe down with all the strength he had left as a hand grabbed the brim of the wood. It was small and ratty bandages were wrapped around the fingers. Realization hit them both and Sabo clashed his pipe into Ace's to divert the blow. Both pipes went flying back into the building as the boys rushed forward to pull Luffy up into the treehouse.

Luffy looked tired, as if he had gone a week without sleep. He had trouble keeping his eyes open as he panted in the entryway, leaning against the two older boys for support. Just like the other two, exhaustion ran deep after the few days apart. The youngest's never-quite-gone eye bags were even more prominent than usual while a few bruises of varying sizes and slight scratches adorned his arms and legs. With a cry the two older children swept the youngest into crashing to the ground in a pile.

"Where were you?!" Ace asked him directly, his voice harsher than he had intended. Luffy flinched slightly and Ace immediately earned himself a whack on the head, delivered by Sabo.

"I- I saw this shiny thing and I just wanted to take a look, I thought it could be treasure and we could buy all the stuff for the treehouse, but then some men attacked me-"

"What?!" Ace and Sabo interrupted. The first thing on their minds was still Luffy's well being, but the second now concerned whoever had dared to attack him and exactly how badly they deserved to get it. He was still so small after all, way younger and weaker than them. The urge to go and return the favor of giving bruises and tearing at skin was hard to suppress. After all, the principle of revenge was written into every being.

"I think they were Bluejelly's. They wanted to get Sabo or something…"

Luffy trailed off as he recalled the event. He was sure that he had heard them talk about Sabo and somebody called _Outwatch_ or something, he couldn't remember it exactly. He turned to Roger, who nodded. He still wore the same grim expression he had since Luffy had gotten away from the men. His expression wasn't as disconcerting as it had been when the dizziness had forced Luffy to drop his _Night Vision_ for some time. He'd been exposed to a sickly looking Roger whose blood drenched his clothes red, but even the healthy version of Roger looked kinda scary with his face like that. The boy didn't like it at all. Because his smiles were nearly impossible to get rid of, he hated even the idea of other people being sad. When Luffy _was_ sad, he experienced the worst feeling in the world. His precious people should be happy and full of joy, always smiling just as wide as him.

"Roger saved me!" Luffy continued, trying to put as much cheer in his voice as he could. "I lost my pipe and I didn't know what to do, but I wasn't scared at all!"

It was so obvious that he wasn't being truthful about the last part. For all the sneaking around the three did, Luffy still hadn't mastered the art of lying. The way his voice trembled slightly and his hands clenched on his shirt easily gave him away.

"And I wanted to fight them alone! I am strong and no coward! But they were big and strong and they snuck up behind me which is cheating…" Luffy trailed off.

"So what did you do?" Sabo asked carefully and with a lot more tact than Ace had mustered up before.

"Let Roger possess me." Came the hesitant reply. "It was very, _very_ different than any other possession… He's really strong…" At that Luffy seemed to perk up. " He just _told_ them to leave me alone and they all fell asleep! I was really dizzy after that so I took a lot of naps. I couldn't come back here for a while, I kept getting lost and sleepy. I'm sorry…"

Luffy pulled his hat into his face, by now a well-known gesture. Whenever he was close to tears he tried to hide his red face, either from shame or anger. Sabo was the first to react. He sighed and grabbed Luffy's hat. With little grace he pulled it up, revealing puffy eyes.

"There's nothing to apologize for, idiot. We were just really worried!"

"Really?"

"Of course! You are our friend, right?"

Sabo smiled and Luffy's responding grin made him look like he had already set sail and found One Piece. But something with that statement didn't sit exactly right with the third boy of their pile. Friends came and went away again, they were not always a constant that stayed for a complete life. To think they were _just_ friends was kind of sad, disappointing. They were more, he was sure. Then an idea struck him, one that turned his frown into a smile.

He pushed Sabo off himself, and treated Luffy only with a little more gentleness than the other as both boys were left on the floor and Ace then began to search among their boxes of belongings.

"Ace?" Luffy called.

He started to rifle through the mess of clothes, money, and writing materials until he finally found the bottle he was searching for. He had snatched it from Dadan a while back, just to annoy her at the time. Now, after remembering a conversation between two men he had overheard at the border of Edge Town once, the sake would gain another purpose.

"Ace, what do you have that sake for?" Sabo asked curiously. "Luffy's wounds aren't so bad that they need to be cleaned with alcohol."

"Your parents say we shouldn't be drinking yet," Luffy translated grimly, then stuck his tongue out. "And alcohol is yuck!"

"The sake is not for cleaning his wounds and we're not going to drink the whole bottle," Ace answered easily and rummaged around until he found three red cups. His friends clearly still didn't know what to make of Ace's behavior as he set it all on the ground and arranged the cups in a circle.

"I stole the sake from Dadan," Ace explained and opened the bottle with a loud 'pop'. "Do you know what they say about sake? That if you exchange sake cups you will become brothers?"

Brothers, family, that was a bond nobody could ever take away from him. Maybe one couldn't choose their blood but Ace was convinced that at least he could choose his family. Besides, Ace's family, cursed blood or not, was fine. They took care of each other, they cared _for_ each other. There were no heartless monsters in his home.

"Brothers?" Luffy repeated excitedly, plopping down in front of one of the little saucers while Ace filled each with a clouded liquid. "Really?!"

"I mean, we are as close as brothers already. We're _not_ just friends! Let's make this a bond that can never be broken, no matter where we are or what we're doing!"

"Even when we are sailing the seas and following our dreams?" Sabo asked, sitting down and lifting his cup. He had long since understood that none of them would ever sail under the same flag. Luffy wanted to be Pirate King after all and the King had no captain. Meanwhile Ace definitely wouldn't let himself be bossed around by Luffy. Then again Luffy wasn't somebody to give out orders. Sabo himself wasn't quite sure yet where he wanted to end up yet. He had a goal, a dream, and he didn't exactly feel like he had to be the captain of a ship to fulfill it. But like Ace, working under the three years younger Luffy didn't sound too appealing to him. Though they could, no, they _would_ be great allies. They'd make every marine afraid of them ever meeting up for a little brotherly spar.

"Especially when we are out at the sea! Starting today, we are brothers!" Ace declared and the three clinked their cups. The content of the cups was quickly emptied, despite the taste making Luffy pull faces as soon as it was gone.

"So, if we're brothers now," Sabo spoke up again, another thought having come to his mind, "does that mean Rouge and Roger are mine and Luffy's parents too?"

"Eh- uhm, yes? I guess?" Ace replied, his and Sabo's gazes landing on Luffy. Even if they weren't brothers by blood and Ace was okay with Roger now, having the man as a father would surely do more harm than good in the future, Ace thought. Then again Luffy walked around proclaiming he would be the next Pirate King and it wasn't like that didn't already tick people off. So maybe it would be fine in the end.

Luffy turned to the ghosts, who were standing side by side at a close distance. Both of them were smiling widely now, smiles that spoke of joy and happiness, ones that the marines had come to fear. The _Ds._ They always smiled the same way and a smiling D. promised a storm. Storms caused chaos and _change_ and were not controllable by human hands, no matter how arrogant and powerful said humans prided themselves to be. Just like the sea, storms were a force of nature with their own mind.

"If you want us as your parents then we'd be glad to be," Rouge told him. She had long since started calling them her children and would continue doing so, no matter what they did.

"Mom and Dad say they'd be happy to be mine and Sabo's mom and dad too!" Luffy laughed and any uncertainty dissolved at the easy way he named them.

The trio of newfound brothers grinned at each other. Home had never felt as warm and safe before, despite the missing roof and broken fence.

 ** _"_** ** _Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need" – Sarah Ban Breathnach_**

Late in the night Ace was still awake watching the night sky while his brothers slept soundly.

There were no clouds covering the stars' bright shine and he wondered how many sailors were out there right now, navigating by the light of the South star. He could easily make out the various constellations his mother had told them about. From the crown of the sky to the knight and the Sea King, who never abandoned their chase across the sky.

"Thank you," Ace muttered, hoping that Roger would notice that he was speaking to him. "For saving him."

Great in the future, but still so frail now, Luffy just needed time, something that he'd almost run out of had Roger not stepped in. There was no telling what they would have been without Roger saving Luffy. All Ace knew right now was that the only reason he was surrounded by his family now and that one day all three had the chance to be great, to do better than anybody else ever had, was thanks to the ghost.

The answer of the man would never reach the boy's ears but he was right to assume that Roger, _his father_ , had heard him.

 **Writer's ramblings:  
And done! Happy this is finally posted :D  
The hardest part in this and the last chapter was really trying to better Roger and Ace's relationship. Besides the slow gaining of trust on Ace's side, I felt like there had to be something bigger for him to entirely accept his father (and poor Luffy had to be a ****catalyst).  
** **And this leaves us with one more chapter for the ASL childhood arc (if it doesn't end up being stupid and get too long again. It's already giving me a headache aaaaah)!  
Finally, thank you all for your nice reviews and suggestions on what to do with Luffy's Devil Fruit! I have looked a bit into Shaman King (it's been so long since I watched it!) and by now I have a good idea on what to do with Luffy's powers!  
Also I love to hear how some of you are thinking about what it's gonna be like when the Straw Hats come together. Also Luffy meeting up with Law/Cora apparently? I think I'm right assuming that most of you also wanted him to live? xD It's really cool to see how many of you are thinking about that aspect already!  
Btw, would you prefer it if I answer reviews like I've done it before? Here in the AN a bit more general since some are pretty similar? Or do with PM?  
Well, I think I've said enough! Thanks for reading!**


	5. Setup for success

**_"_** ** _To be able to watch your children grow up is a blessing" – Unknown_**

Nothing would ever stop changing. Neither the shape of the land nor the culture of the people living on it remained the same as time changed their shapes. It was a quality the most apparent in children, who seemed to grow from helpless infants to chubby toddlers and to impatient teenagers in the blink of an eye. It was impossible to catch all of these changes, there will always be one gone unnoticed.

Spring had come to Dawn Island. Flowers of nearly every color bloomed among the boughs of the jungle and the youth of all ages ran through the jungle, playing games or running for their lives, but never far from their guardians.

Garp found it hard to suppress his laughter while he watched his grandsons plan his downfall from their chosen hiding place. They still had a lot to learn if they thought that a simple trap could stop him from spending some quality time with them, or if they thought that a bush was enough to conceal them from him. He wasn't a marine Vice Admiral for nothing, even if he didn't always appear to be suited for the position. Usually he didn't even like his orders! The job came with not enough influence and too many stupid responsibilities. Those responsibilities being the main reason he hadn't been able to visit since last summer.

"We should go search for Luffy," Sabo said and Garp grinned to himself, just a little maniacally.

"And I'm telling you, he already got Luffy!" The marine heard Ace hiss. "There's no way Luffy managed to stay hidden on his own!"

"You should give Luffy a little more credit, I'm sure he's fine."

"No way! He's too much of a crybaby for that!"

Sabo snorted. "He's not that bad, Ace. You know that. But fine, what should we do instead of searching for Luffy?"

His grandsons had come quite far since his last visit. Garp had expected them to grow, but he had been in for a surprise when seeing their tree house for the first time. They lived on their own now and were mostly self sufficient. Garp was sure that they were completely unaware of the bandits' more or less regular checkups or the kids would have long since made sure that they would be left alone. They didn't exactly appreciate being treated like little children who needed to be watched all the time. The fault of that probably laid in their upbringing. Since bandits weren't exactly quality parenting material, life had taught them to watch out for themselves. It certainly hadn't been Garp's brightest idea to let the sons of the government's most hated men be raised by bandits, but it wasn't like there had been any other remotely safe place. At least, not one where they could grow up freely.

And seeing his grandchildren now, their number having risen to three with Sabo, Garp knew that he hadn't messed up entirely. The bandits' hideout wasn't the gentlest place for children to live, but it was safe from the world and gave them a chance to become strong. They probably wouldn't grow up to be strong marines, he was not so much of a fool as to believe that they would choose that path in life, but at least they could grow up at all.

Silently, he wondered how much Roger and Rouge had contributed to the children's enormous growth in strength. So far the trio hadn't mentioned anything about their training and Garp was curious to say the least.

Not that Garp actually needed any verbal confirmation. He had seen Luffy play around with throwing knives, which pretty much guaranteed that Rouge was teaching him. She had been quite terrifying with them, made him question how she had escaped getting a bounty on her head during the time she spent on the Oro Jackson.

"I say we go hide _now_ and search for Luffy _later_ when gramps is eating," Ace proposed. "The shitty old man will be too distracted then."

"Who are you calling a shitty old man?" Garp took the opportunity to invade their shelter and took great delight in the alarmed expressions which rose to both boys' faces.

Ace and Sabo paled and turned to face the marine. There was no running now. Holding their pipes in front of them, they braced themselves for battle. There was no way in hell they would go down without a good fight!

But before it could even get to that, a scream sounded through the jungle.

"Surprise attack!"

The two pre-teens and Garp ducked down as a few knives flew haphazardly from the underbrush and passed harmlessly around every possible target. Then Luffy jumped out of a bush, his pipe on his back and one last knife still in hand. As usual he was smiling brightly, proud that his plan of attack had worked out.

"Ha! I got you!" Luffy shouted and raised his right hand up, two fingers proclaiming victory.

"No, you didn't!" The three shouted back at the same time.

"Did to!"

"No! You didn't!"

"I did, I did!"

With a sigh Garp sat down, while his grandsons continued fighting. Within a few seconds the first punch was thrown and the battle of words took a more physical turn. Since he'd last seen them fight they had become less predictable and their movements had gained a degree of fluidity and grace. There was trained skill behind their moves, it wasn't just mindless brawling anymore.

"That's what you taught them in a few months?" Garp said dryly. "They will be monsters by the time they set sail."

He couldn't hear or see Roger's laughing or Rouge proudly declaring that her sons would be the strongest of the Grand Line one day. But he wasn't wrong in thinking that the ghosts were amused by the marine's reaction.

"They better become the best, can't have my grandsons be anything but the strongest!"

He hadn't exactly made his peace with them becoming pirates, just like he hadn't made peace with Dragon leading a rebellion. But at least they would be the greatest at what they wanted. He'd be proud of their pirating no matter what, after all, they would be good pirates and not like the scum the marines were there to corral. Another benefit would be the immense pleasure he'd gain from shoving their bounty pictures in Sengoku's face – and a hell lot of awkward pride.

Garp was torn out of his thoughts when one of Luffy's knife impaled the tree he'd been resting his head against.

"Be careful with that, you brat!" He snapped.

But Luffy just laughed.

 ** _"_** ** _Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends." - Czech Proverb_**

If Sabo had to decide on a favorite season, he would definitely choose spring. Dawn Island's summers were too hot and the winters too cold. The last winter especially had been a nightmare of snow storms and late sudden freezes. The trio had had no choice but to steal food from the bandits whenever their own storage got too short. Autumns were usually pretty similar to springs, but they were never as beautiful and there wasn't as much game.

Spring brought more animals to hunt, new people to mug and a jungle that came to life again. Sabo also couldn't deny the sentimental value that this particular season had for him on top of all its other advantages.

It had been the season in which Sabo had run away from his parents. The blonde boy couldn't quite believe that it had already been five, nearly six, years since he had reached for his freedom. It had been, and would probably always be, the best decision of his life. Seeing the stuck up nobles while he and his brothers ran through High Town in their disguises never failed to remind him of the horrid life he'd left behind. Compared to their self-made home in the trees and all the space of the huge jungle, the houses and streets of High Town seemed so constricting and narrow despite how big they actually were. Those nobles lived in a world built by the money they spent but Sabo… Sabo lived in the _real_ world. It was rougher and didn't give him what he wanted when he clapped his hands, but it was worth so much more than High Town's golden streets.

"Oi, Sabo!" Ace spoke and the blond started, pulled from his thoughts. "Gramps is gone. We can quit hiding now."

"You sure?" Sabo looked up to his brother, who was already standing with his arms crossed, frowning down at him. Ace had probably called him a few times already and had gotten annoyed when he didn't react. He couldn't blame his brother, they had been hiding in the bushes for the past hour or so and Ace was probably eager to get moving again. It was extremely uncomfortable sitting between the undergrowth of the jungle with sticks and stones digging into their skin. Never mind that Ace had never possessed much patience for hiding.

"Of course!" Ace rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid. A little trust won't hurt you."

Sabo smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, catching a few leaves while he was at it. Another disadvantage of hiding in the bushes from their _insane_ marine grandfather was that leaves, flowers, sticks and all sorts of other junk ended up _everywhere_.

"I can't feel my legs anymore," Sabo groaned as he stood. As soon as he was up, he shook his legs to get rid of the tingling in them. "I'm pretty sure, Garp was worse than last time."

Ace shrugged before grinning at Sabo, eyes shining mischievously.

"Did you see his face though when Luffy showed him his drawings of us and Mom and Dad?"

Luffy had enthusiastically shown Garp the picture he had drawn for Ace's birthday. It was done pretty well considering Luffy's abysmal art skills. The drawings portrayed the three of them together with their parents standing in their tree house. After describing in great detail every aspect of the picture, the seven year old had continued on with telling the marine how much he loved his parents and how awesome and strong they were.

The marine's face had been _priceless_.

"I'd trade a week's meal to see him make that expression again," Sabo laughed.

"A whole week's?" Ace repeated skeptically. "It wasn't _that_ good."

"Says you! I bet Luffy agrees with me!"

"Nu-uh!" Ace protested and crossed his arms. "Luffy loves food too much to trade it for anything."

Sabo frowned as he thought about it, then slowly started to nod. "Right. Food stands above everything for him."

Ace shot Sabo a triumphant smile and continued following their path upstream. They patrolled this route every morning and every evening, checking for signs of Bluejam's men coming closer. In their hunt for Sabo, the men had become a great deal bolder, now also going past the border of the jungle. Gray Terminal had become unbearable about a month after the three of them had become brothers as Bluejam's own men, and whoever else had taken interest in the hunt for Sabo, were lingering on nearly every corner of the trash mountains. It would be incredibly stupid and unnecessarily dangerous for the trio to go search for valuable objects there. They still went to Edge Town sometimes if they needed to, heavily disguised and trying to avoid most of Gray Terminal by entering the area close to the city wall.

The jungle was their refuge, but as Bluejam came closer, the more did the security in their jungle territory shrunk. Slowly but steadily, the brothers had had to give up parts of their home, and at this point the river full of crocodiles was the last big obstacle Bluejam had to overcome before some lone wild animals and a few poisonous/carnivorous plants were the only things standing between him and the capture of Sabo.

Therefore, Sabo and Ace had taken to patrolling their side of the river to keep up the last big line of defense while Luffy had his knife throwing lessons. If Bluejam and his men managed to surprise the two boys, the chances that they'd make it out unharmed were bigger than in a version where Luffy was there too. Luffy of course had complained at first, but after the third time he accidentally set off one of the smaller traps they had put up to further secure the area, he had given in.

It helped that their mother had promised to teach Luffy some 'super strong techniques'.

"Speaking of food," Ace spoke up again, "we should hurry. It's nearly time for dinner…" The black haired boy trailed off, his gaze fixed on something in distance.

Sabo followed Ace's look and found himself staring at one of their traps. In some distance it laid on the ground, utterly broken. The two of them shared a look of momentary panic before rushing over to the construct.

They both kneeled down on the moss covered ground and looked at the broken trap in front of them.

"That was definitely a human," Ace said and pointed at the food prints next to the broken trap. "Damn it!"

"They've gotten closer again," Sabo muttered, the frown on his face making him look older than he was. "If this goes on for much longer they will find us."

The blonde's right hand was curled to a fist while the grip of his left hand on his pipe was strong enough for his knuckles to stand out white against his tanned skin.

"We have to do something."

Ace grimaced, Sabo didn't have to voice the obvious.

 ** _"_** ** _The two enemies of human happiness are boredom and pain" – Arthur Schopenhauser_**

The wind rustled through the tree crowns, the sound mixing with the light squeaking of birds crying to their parents for food. Silence like this was rare to find in the jungle as usually children's laughter rang through it. Considering that, it was no surprise that it had to be broken by a complaint rather similar to those of the birds.

"Ace and Sabo are taking so long," Luffy whined as he picked another of his knifes off the ground. "It's so unfair that I have to stay here! I'm already super strong!" He hurled the knife at a tree but the weapon simply wobbled in flight and disappeared into the bushes.

Rouge offered her son a kind smile, meant to calm him. She understood that he was angered by having to stay back when Sabo and Ace were both out, she would be worried if Luffy didn't complain. Nevertheless she found it a little hard to stay serious. Luffy's pouting face was _adorable_.

"Yes, you're already super strong," Rouge agreed with her son. "But Sabo and Ace are just a little bit stronger than you and that's why you're here with me practicing. If you practice a lot, you'll become just as strong as them and then you can go with them!"

This seemed to do the trick as Luffy drew himself up and snatched another knife off the ground. Sticking his tongue out in concentration he took aim and lobbed it at the tree and its painted target. With anticipation he watched as the knife raced through the air. A dull 'klock' announced that the weapon hit its target, not perfectly in the middle of the cross, but pretty close still.

Luffy's eyes widened and with a victory cry he jumped up, his right hand raised towards the sky.

"I did it!" he cheered and turned to Rouge who smiled just as bright as him. "Mom, did you see that? I did it!"

"I saw it," Rouge confirmed. "How about we start preparing a celebration dinner now?"

At that Luffy's eyes began to sparkle. "Yes! Meat, meat, meat!"

Luffy collected all his knives and they walked back to the tree house where Rouge checked over their food supplies, planning what to help them cook tonight. To her surprise there was enough leftover from yesterday's meal so she instructed Luffy on how to cut the vegetables, fruits and meat. The cooking itself she'd leave to Ace or Sabo. As skilled as Luffy was becoming with knives, she wasn't quite as comfortable with him working with fire.

The first time she and Luffy had attempted to cook together, they had nearly burned down the tree their house was in. Any further tries to get her youngest to prepare himself a cooked meal hadn't been attempted.

When Luffy was done cutting up the ingredients, she tried to interest him in some history. Unfortunately, unless her lessons and knowledge were wrapped into an adventure story Luffy had a hard time paying attention. For a moment Rouge considered having Luffy read a bit more but before she could voice her thoughts, Luffy had already grabbed pencils and some paper and began to draw. She sighed, unsure of how even one of her sons would ever get proper schooling, but then sat down next to Luffy. He had done a lot of training today, there was no use in overworking. Besides, oddly enough she was a little tired, a break would do her well. It's been years since she had felt even slight exhaustion like this.

 ** _"_** ** _You get into the biggest fights with the people you care about the most, because they are the relationships you're willing to fight for." – Wiz Khalifa_**

Sabo wasn't really paying attention as he threw the pre-cut ingredients into the big pot they had liberated from the bandits before winter. He was preoccupied, thinking about the broken trap. With his lapse of attention came lack of care and the next time he threw something into the pot, the boiling water splattered over the pot's brim and dropped on Sabo. The blonde grimaced at the momentary pain and dropped the next piece of food more carefully into the stew.

Out of the corner of his vision, Sabo could make out Ace who was still pacing around, just like he had been for the last fifteen minutes. It irritated the blonde as it wasn't like pacing would do anything about the problem with Bluejam. And it certainly didn't help him concentrate on dinner.

"Ace, can you sit still for just ten minutes?" Sabo asked, more of his agitation leaked into his voice than he had wanted to show.

Ace stopped walking back and forth and turned to Sabo, the corners of his mouth pulled downwards as he knitted his brow.

"No, I can't," Ace replied, then pointed at Luffy. "He's moving around way more than me, why don't you tell him off."

Sabo focused on Luffy, who indeed was moving around more, jumping up and down and gesturing wildly while talking to their parents.

"Luffy's always like that," Sabo answered. "Not to mention he's cheerful and not brooding like you!"

"Sorry, I'm worried about our situation!" Ace hissed, anger seeping into his voice.

"Do you think I'm not? But just while we have this bit of calm, I don't want to worry and just-"

"Just what!?" Ace interrupted his brother. "Do nothing, forget everything and wait for the moment they come and get us?"

Ace's anger, directed at Sabo just as much as it was directed on himself and his own helplessness, burnt in his light brown eyes which suddenly seemed so dark. Sabo could see his silhouette in them, lit by, the reflection of their campfire .

"I don't know, Ace!" Sabo exclaimed, equally angered. "I have absolutely no idea what we could do! We're just three kids that got really, _really_ lucky. It's a miracle they haven't caught us yet!"

By now, Luffy had noticed his brother's fighting. It wasn't unusual that the three of them had disagreements, they fought about the last plate of food at every meal, but the tone of those arguments was different. Usually those fights still had the undertone of it being simple, just jokes and games, but the way his brothers were shouting at each other now was completely different.

They seemed more aggressive and just... tired.

Luffy considered himself the expert on tiredness and bad dreams, of course he had noticed that his brothers weren't sleeping as well as they used to and therefore were more tired during the day. He looked up to his father, who was watching Sabo and Ace with worry written all over his face. Luffy then turned his attention to his mother who always knew how to solve even the most difficult problems. But instead of the usually so warm and assuring smile, Rouge appeared almost frustrated.

"There's only one way out of this mess as I see it," Sabo spoke up again. The blonde had already collected himself again, the weight of his almost done decision being a heavy load on his still so small shoulders. "They only want me after all. So when they get too close, I'll-"

"The hell you will!" Ace once again interrupted Sabo. "We go down together or not at all. You won't be a self sacrificing idiot, you- you idiot!"

Ace was breathing heavily, having talked himself into a rage.

"Well, you certainly won't suffer for my mistakes!"

"What mistakes? Being born into the wrong family? I won't be watching you die for something stupid like that!"

"Maybe you should!"

"Are you out of your-"

"Hey!" Luffy attempted to interrupt them. "Stop fighting!"

But Ace and Sabo didn't listen, they were far too caught up in their screaming match. Then, with a cry, Ace threw his pipe to the ground and tackled Sabo, pulling his brother to the ground with him. On the floor of the jungle they wrestled, each trying to gain the upper hand. Neither of the two wanted to give in and seeing the other's determination to have it go their way, the two boys only became more frustrated and angry.

Luffy hated it when his brothers fought like this, out of anger and without… purpose? There wasn't any _reason_ for stupid fights like this. They weren't training to get stronger, they were just hurting each other. Again he searched for his parents' attention, hoping for advice, and this time they noticed him.

"Tell them to stop, please," Rouge asked of him and Luffy almost crossed his arms at his mother. He had already tried that, but without much success. Wasn't there anything else he or his parents _could_ do? It was a useless question, that much the seven year old already knew. As real and tangible the two adults were to him, they weren't really part of the world anymore. At least not enough to influence it without Luffy's help. The boy considered jumping into the fight too, perhaps that would stop Ace and Sabo. But the next second he discarded that thought. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he knew he couldn't keep up with his older brothers and so joining the brawl would useless.

So Luffy decided to listen to his mother, even if he'd already tried this approach. Maybe if he shouted really loud this time, they'd stop.

"I said, _stop_ _fighting_!"

This time it seemed to work. Sabo and Ace immediately froze, still trying to hold each other's limbs down as above them all kinds of colorful birds flew away, alarmed by Luffy's sudden outburst.

"Why are you fighting?" Luffy stomped his foot, breathing heavily with his hands curled to fists. "We're brothers, right? So why are you fighting against each other?"

"We're not fighting against each other!" Sabo immediately argued.

"Y-yeah! We're fighting _with_ each other!" Ace supported the blonde.

"That's different?" Luffy then asked skeptical, not sure if his brothers could be believed.

"Definitely," Sabo replied and launched into an explanation. "You see, 'cause if we were fighting _against_ each other, we would hate each other. But we don't so we're fighting _with_ each other!"

"But that's stupid! Why are you fighting at all?"

Sabo and Ace shared a look, not exactly sure anymore why they had started to fight in the first place. They had both wanted to solve their problems and the way it was now, they were only making it worse, playing right into the hands of their pursuers. The busier they were fighting among themselves, the lower the chances they'd come up with a solution and the higher the chances they'd be caught.

Ace let go of Sabo's arm, who in turn let go of Ace's leg. They grinned at each other, both smiles a little crooked with guilt. They had let their frustrations get the best of them, the last thing they needed when fighting between each other, at this point, could cost them their lives.

"We really overdid it here…" Sabo sighed and lay down on the ground.

"Dad says ' _yes'_ and Mom says ' _family shouldn't fight because everybody gets hurt and the problems are still there_ '," Luffy dutifully repeated his parents' words.

"Understood," Ace replied. "But only if Sabo won't be stupid and run away!"

"I've only-"

"No fighting!" Luffy interrupted, his arms crossed just like Makino and Rouge always had when they scolded him. It was like the universal gesture for ' _don't talk back_ ', Luffy was sure.

"We won't fight again, promise," Sabo said as he sat upright. "But still we need a good plan. If we don't do something, Bluejam will get us."

He looked at Luffy, who had become the fixed point when searching for their parents' proximity.

"Dad says we could make it to the next island with a fisher boat," Luffy said, eyes going wide at the idea of starting their adventure early on. Before he had time to imagine what their travels would look like, Rouge's "it's too dangerous" shot him down.

"Wouldn't have worked anyway," Sabo exclaimed. "The nobles would keep hunting us anyway, I'm their only son and chance for the throne after all."

"You on a throne? That's the last place you belong. Is there nothing that could make them stop searching for you?" Ace complained, while picking apart the grass beneath his finger, destroying the frail strands.

"Nothing," Sabo directly answered. "Well, nothing but my death…"

Silence followed at that somber thought, but internally Sabo's mind lit up with an idea. An idea that most likely wasn't anywhere _close_ to something his family would accept.

It must have shown on his face because Ace leaned over and frowned at him suspiciously.

"What are you thinking of?" He asked. Between the two of them, he knew he was the most reckless, that was hard to argue with all of his split second decisions but Sabo wasn't ranked far beneath him in hastiness. His plans could easily escalate to be equally or even more dangerous and reckless than any of Ace's calls..

Sabo appeared to be considering his options just a little longer before starting to elaborate his idea.

"Those nobles will only stop if they think I'm dead so- so we could do that."

"Are you crazy!?" Ace shouted. "There's no way I'll let you kill yourself."

"I'm not planning to, idiot!" Sabo was breathing hard with apprehension and excitement. "But...I could fake it! People die all the time in Grey Terminal for the most stupid reasons too like- like falling down one of the trash heaps and breaking their neck! If we plan this right, we could pull it off. I wouldn't be able to go to Grey Terminal again for another few years and I'd have to change my appearance a bit but I think we could do this! And if those stuck up nobles get behind it, we at least bought us enough time to come up with something better!"

At the end of his rant, Sabo breathed more heavily but there was a determination in his eyes that hadn't been there before. He knew it was reckless and stupid but he didn't know what other option they still had. Besides, the three of them were strong and he was sure that they could actually pull this off.

He turned his head to Luffy, knowing that their parents couldn't be far. With Roger and Rouge helping, the chance of something going wrong was even slimmer.

"Your plan has way too many holes to go right!" Ace argued again. "Mom, Dad, tell him it's stupid and we're not doing it!"

Rouge buried her fingers in the blue fabric of her dress. Her children shouldn't be making plans like this. They shouldn't have to. But as it was too often in this world, fate wasn't kind and the life they led wasn't easy.

She looked at Roger, who appeared to be just as troubled as her. He too probably understood that Sabo was right. There weren't really any other options left. If they continued running, it would take perhaps a month before Sabo was captured and who the hell knew what would happen to Ace and Luffy. Escaping to the next island could be done with a proper boat and more knowledge on navigation than the boys had. The sea was dangerous and Luffy couldn't swim. Never mind if he could, the currents would still pull them into the deep and cold blue.

Faking Sabo's death, as dangerous and complicated as it was, held the only chance of everyone making it out well.

"Mom? Dad?" Ace spoke up again, still awaiting their answer.

"Luffy?" Roger called for the youngest' attention. "Tell your brothers that Sabo's plan is what we'll work on."

Luffy nodded and repeated his father's words, sealing their fate.

 ** _"_** ** _If you risk nothing, then you risk everything" - Geena Davis_**

When Sabo woke up as night began to shift into very early morning; he felt sick to his stomach, as if he could throw up right that second. On shaking legs he stood up and carefully walked over to the water barrel they kept close by. He needed to drink something and get rid of the taste of bile in his mouth. He grabbed the small bowl drifting in the water and easily emptied it three times. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to make a difference, the bad taste didn't leave his mouth. The only thing the water had done was wake him up even more. A glance out of the window told him that it was still way too early to be up. For a moment he considered falling asleep next to his brothers again, but he quickly discarded the idea. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again anyway, and he would probably only wake Ace and Luffy up. Besides, he could make use of this free time to go through the plan again, look for some mistakes, something they had overlooked just to make sure that everything would go smoothly and that his fear wasn't justified at all-

"I'm scared."

The words left his mouth entirely unintentionally. He hadn't wanted to let them out, to have his fears be known.

The last week was nerve-wracking and hard work. The first thing the family of five had done was figure out how they would fake Sabo's death. They knew they needed a big audience so they had to play it off in the middle of Grey Terminal, somewhere close to the well-populated trading areas. Ace and Sabo would stage a fight ending with Sabo falling off one of the trash mountains and 'dying' when enough of Bluejam's men were there. Animal blood kept in multiple small bags would do its best to give Sabo the appearance of being fatally wounded, then Ace would have to get Sabo away from the scene, appearing guilty about having caused Sabo's death. By the end of the plan, everyone in Grey Terminal, convinced by seeing the blood and Ace's guilty reaction, would believe that the runaway noble was dead.

And then, _finally_ , Sabo would be free.

From morning to night Ace and Sabo had practiced how to fight without actually trying to inure each other and how to fall from heights without getting hurt. If Sabo landed the wrong way, he could break his bones, worst of all – his neck. Whenever Luffy wasn't needed to translate while training, he collected blackberries to later dye Sabo's hair. They would obviously need to get actual hair dye as a permanent solution but at first the berries would have to be enough.

The plan was secure enough, it should work. They had worked so hard for this and when this was all done and over, they'd be safe. Still, worry bit into his flesh, leaving its mark. He was such a scaredy-cat, Ace certainly would make fun of him for stressing so much.

Sabo reached for his clothes and began to dress himself and perhaps grab an apple or a banana. Something small, that wouldn't sit heavily in his stomach. Sabo doubted that he'd be able to get down the heavy breakfast that they usually ate.

Sabo clambered out of the tree house and climbed up onto its roof, settling himself to wait for his brothers to wake. He waited patiently as the red and orange vanished from the sky, leaving behind a pure and endless blue.

Ace and Luffy, as Sabo discovered about an hour later, were just as nervous as Sabo. They ate just a bit more than Sabo had but breakfast certainly wasn't a happy occasion, even if Luffy tried his hardest to cheer them up. Sabo appreciated the effort though.

The rest of the day passed in a fairly uneventful manner. They didn't leave the proximity of their home and lunch wasn't as lively or as big as usual. By the time the sun was setting above them and Grey Terminal was sure to be busy, Sabo had managed to keep from freaking out again. He counted that as a success. As it would only get darker now, he was sure any panicked expression he'd have, would be hidden.

Their walk to Gray Terminal was mostly silent, even Luffy didn't chatter as much as usual. When they reached the borders of the jungle, they checked their equipment one last time. Their weapons and Sabo's fake blood were all ready for use. All that was left to do was to act it all out.

"Ready?" Ace asked.

Sabo took a deep breath before nodding. They could do it, right now, and then at the end of the day they'd all return home. Together.

"We're ready too," Luffy spoke for himself and their parents. He and Roger would wait here at the borders while Rouge stayed with Ace and Sabo in case something went wrong.

"Let's do this then."

Sabo passed the tree line, running as fast as he could with Ace on his heels. He didn't even have to pretend to look scared.

" _SABO!_ " Ace shouted as loud as he could, catching everyone's attention. "It's all your fault!"

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sabo could see the people turning to look at them, fingers pointing. Everything seemed to grow louder, from the words in their mouths to the blood rushing in his ears.

"You're a stupid noble!"

It took the men searching through the trash a split second to realize who exactly was fighting there. After months of searching for the noble brat and his friends, they knew their names well enough. Seemed like they had scared the brats enough to turn onto each other. Bloodthirsty grins spread over the men's faces. They stopped their work to start running after the black haired one, trying to pass him and get to Sabo first.

But Ace was faster and more agile as he could take the sharp curves easier than the grown men.

"I should have never trusted you!" Ace shouted again and sped up. The men were struggling more and more to keep up, nearly running each other over in their haste.

At least the brats weren't switching directions anymore as the blonde seemed to head straight for one of the biggest trash heaps Grey Terminal had to offer.

Soon the noble reached the pile and began to climb up. He stumbled a few times and his hold didn't always appear stable, but he made it to the top with Ace quickly behind him. The dark haired boy held his pipe right in front of him, easily falling into fighting stance that looked far too advanced for a brat of his age. The noble followed suit just before Ace had a chance to land a good hit. Metal clashed against metal, but neither of the boys lost footing.

"Get up there!" One man shouted, having become impatient.

A dozen attempted to climb up the mountain but their weight pushed them to the ground again, taking those below them with them.

"Don't! You can have him when I'm done with him!" Ace roared down at them.

The few men that had attempted to reach for the top, stopped climbing for a moment, unsure of their next step. Then the first ones dropped back to the ground again. It was common knowledge that these two brats were monsters of their own. It would be wiser to wait until Ace and Sabo would take each other out.

Sabo punched Ace into the face, signaling the start of the last fighting sequence before Sabo would stage his fall. Ace jumped forward, hitting Sabo's side with his pipe. It would definitely bruise.

Sabo went from holding his struck side to kicking Ace again. Now Ace would make Sabo lose his balance by pulling away the blonde's mainstay. But before he could do so, screams erupted everywhere. It took Sabo a few seconds to really understand them, but he saw what caused the panic before that.

 _Fire._

Multiple fires had started, billowing to life all over the Grey Terminal, quickly forming into an inferno and devouring everything that stood in their way. The various gases that fume regularly in Grey Terminal only made the fire burn faster and brighter.

"We have to go!" Ace shouted and jumped down the trash pile, Sabo following without a second's hesitation. The act was over, they had new priorities.

The mob that had gathered beneath them had already disappeared. They had been scared away by the flames that had already taken over two of the three passages towards the trash pile Sabo and Ace had fought on.

"We have to get Luffy!"

"Fire started near the gate, Dad will have brought him back to the jungle already," Ace said and coughed, the black smoke making it hard to speak and breath.

The duo tried to keep up their speed as they kept running, aiming for the forest. Ace was just a bit faster and passed the trash mountain to their right as it creaked, already taken over by the flames, and finally came crashing down right in front of Sabo's nose.

Hearing it crash behind him, Ace turned around, eyes going wide with panic as he was greeted with a sea of flames instead of the face of his brother.

"SABO!"

But he didn't get a reply. He called out to his brother a few more times, approaching the burning trash only to have to jump back when the heat lashed out. With shaking legs Ace abandoned the route towards the jungle and tried to find another way into the flames and get Sabo. But the flames got closer and closer, devoured more and more of Grey Terminal and closed off any access to the inside.

Ace coughed, his sight steadily dimming into a foggy, darkened perspective.

"Sabo!" He pressed out between coughs. "Sabo, where are you?"

He dropped to his knees, panting for breath. The last thing he noticed before losing consciousness was somebody picking him up.

 **Writer's ramblings:**

 **Sooo uhm 7 months later I update? I'm very sorry! I (re)joined so many fandoms and kept getting side tracked. I had most of this chapter done by January actually but the last part kept giving me trouble and then exams happened and my wonderful Beta _wordlet_ and I were both pretty busy. But I'm happy with this chapter now, so I hope those of you who haven't given up on this story enjoyed it!**

 **With this, after 30.000 words, I'm finally done with the childhood arc! More or less. I hope I can keep the next Arc within that word count too (I highly doubt it though).**

 **Reviews:**

 **Yo Wazzup Lol (guest): Omg so many questions, this is a dream review, honestly! Don't apologize for it :D I hope I'll be able to answer all your questions in the future!**

 **I need a life (guest): Well, Luffy has learnt _some_ more manners but I guarantee for nothing! And I'm not giving away what ghosts will stick around with who just yet.**

 **mapplepie: Ace is one of my favorite characters and he deserves a better childhood without self hatred (except I kind of messed that up too now right..?)**

 **Awareness Bringer: Perona is one of my favorite characters! But I've decided to keep this story Gen!**

 **Nettle-Inis: Not gonna tell, sorry. What happens to Ace is well, a secret for now.**

 **Zeke Jones: You probably won't even read this but I felt like I need to write this anyway. Yes, I know Shanks didn't stay in Foosha for 2 years, but I thought it would be more realistic to have their relationship grow with Shanks returning to that city for a time period of two years. Not actually staying there the whole time. Devil fruits taste like crap, yeah I know that too. I got inspired by Tokyo Ghoul though where human food also tastes bad but the main character still describes it as having a a taste. So I thought about what food Luffy might hate and choose lemons. "Gross adult stuff" was meant to be about drinking and you know being an actual pirate. I know that I as a kid hated drunk adults and alcohol. I thought it was gross. Also, I don't write yaoi and I never will. I do however write gay pairing which to me is something different as yaoi objectifies gay men and is aimed at fangirls. So yaoi is a huge no-no for me, gay pairing aren't. And most yaoi fanfiction actually aren't even yaoi but I'm not gonna open that discussion now. Being gay also has absolutely nothing to do with masculinity. You know sexuality has nothing to do with gender and statements like being gay doesn't make you masculine pisses off a whole lot of people. Also, not be rude, but as a trans guy I probably thought more about the concept of masculinity in the last week than other people in their whole lives.**

 **Sorry the rest of you had to read that, now to the next:**

 **KingCreations: Omg thank you for your sweet words!**

 **Ghostvu: THANK YOU! Like woah your review is so sweet and I just. Thank you.**

 **Arxhaelogist: Happy that the scene of Roger possessing Luffy was a little scary. While I do try not to make this too dark, Luffy's power itself actually isn't as much of a happy one. But well, it's Luffy. He makes it work anyway :D**

 **AcidicSnake: How many Arcs there will be? Uhh *starts sweating* No idea. And well, this is fanfiction. I guess some small changes to the crew won't hurt ;)**

 **And to everyone else who reviewed: Thank you so much! All of you really made me happy and not give up in frustrations.**

 **I'll try to get the next chapter done faster, but for those who want to read more of this verse: I've posted a side story called "Fragments of dreams" in which I post side stories or deleted scenes from this fanfiction.**

 **Until next time!**


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